Where Darkness led to the right path
by DarqueDeath4444
Summary: Her team forgetting her after Lisanna's return leaves Lucy feeling empty until a falling key from the sky leads to Lucy finding out about the way powerful magic were split into three, the controller of Lite, Darque, and the manipulator of both, Shade. Now, Lucy must gather others like her to face of an enemy that was thought to have vanished long ago.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

A cloaked figure walked along crowded streets, ignoring the suspicious glances and whispers directed towards it, and roughly pushed past the crowd.

Soon, people cleared a path for the figure, who still made signs of acknowledging them. The figure broke off the main street, and slipped into one of the side streets.

The figure took out a scroll from its cloak and unraveled it. It leaned against one of the walls.

"Guild, Fairy Tail. Lite, Natsu Dragneel, Laxus Dreyar, Wendy Marvel...tch, why are there so many? Darque, maybe Gajeel Redfox. Shade, Lucy Heartfillia." The figure read out quietly.

"Guild, Crime Sorcière. Lite, none. Darque, none. Shade, Jellal Fernandez...oh, the so called Dark mage."

"Guild, Sabertooth. Lite, Sting Eucliffe. Darque, Rogue Cheny. Shade, Yukino Aguria, another Celestial mage, huh?" There was a pause.

"Guild, Blue Pegasus. None, none, none...how boring."

"Guild, Lamia Scale. None, none, none."

"Guild, Mermaid Heel. Yet again, none, none, none."

"Guild..."

* * *

"There are way more Lite mages compared to Darque, but that was expected." The figure rolled up the scroll, and put it back into its cloak.

"You know..." The figure trailed off, and looked up towards the sky. "I, Darque di Daemon, have decided on my hosts. Lucy Heartfillia, the Celestial mage of Fairy Tail and Jellal Fernandez, the Heavenly Body Magic user from Crime Sorcière." The figure clicked its tongue. "I think the members of Oracion Seis, Cobra and Midnight will be valuable assets, though I'm surprised about Midnight, judging by his magic. Rogue is also a good choice, he's a powerful Dragon slayer."

"Sting and Laxus are powerful Lite mages, but that only if I can get them on our side before Lite does." The figure chuckled. "If we can get Lucy Heartfilla on our side, the Lite mages in her guild will be easy."

The figure pushed off the wall, and straightened its cloak. A black bird with blazing red eyes flew down from the sky and landed on the figure's shoulder. "Well, that's perfect isn't it, seeing that Jellal is in this city." The bird stretched its wings and took flight, once again disappearing into the sky. "I've made my move, and now its your turn, Lite di Angelo."

The figure threw its head back and let out a sadistic laugh.

* * *

Jellal Fernandez followed Merdy through the crowded streets, making sure to keep his heads hidden with his hood. The sun was beginning to set when Merdy pointed excitedly at a inn.

"We can stay there for the night." She decided. "Stay out here until I come get you." She rushed into the inn without waiting for his reply.

Jellal sighed, but he stayed alert. Until he was safe inside the inn room, he could not risk lowering his guard.

A few minutes later, Merdy came back out, twirling two room keys. She passed one to Jellal. "Come on." She said. She led the way into the inn and up the stairs. Merdy stopped in front of room 204, and unlocked the door. She stepped inside and Jellal followed.

The room was defiantly not the most grandest, but it looked comfortable enough, with two beds, a bathroom, and a small coffee table.

Merdy dumped her bag onto one of the beds then rushed into the bathroom. "Dibs the shower first."

Jellal sighed at his guild mates antics, and placed his own bags down onto the other bed. He lay down and closed his eyes.

* * *

Jellal woke to someone shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw Merdy looking down at him. "You can use the shower now." She told him.

Jellal nodded and sat up. He felt a sudden tug and whipped around to face the rooms only window. Mercy blinked and faced the window as well. "What?" She asked.

Jellal frowned. "Oh, nothing, sorry." He said.

Merdy shrug. "You should take a shower and rest." She advised.

Jellal stood up and took a step towards the shower, then seemingly changed his mind. "Actually, I'm going to take a walk first."

Merdy glanced at him. "Okay, just be careful."

Jellal smiled at her reassuringly and picked up his cloak.

He quietly exited the inn, and started to walk towards the main when he felt another tug. It wasn't a physical feeling, it was more of a tug to the heart, calling out to him.

The closer he got to the main street, the stronger the tug got. By the time he could hear the chatter of the crowd, Jellal was panting, clutching his chest. He clung to the wall of a closed store and grunted. He saw a flash of red, and turned towards it. The red belonged to the eyes of a crow, looking straight at him. The crow cocked its head to one side and took flight.

The bird flew over Jellal's head in circles until Jellal straightened. The crow flew off, then circled around and came back. Jellal slowly started following the bird back the way he had come. By the time he was back at the entrance of the inn, the pain was a simple tug again. However, the bird didn't stop as it led the way further down the side street.

It made a sharp curve into a dark alley and Jellal followed it. By the time he had entered the alley, the crow was nowhere to be seen.

A sudden movement at the edge of his vision caught his eye and Jellal whipped around to see a small figure in a black hooded cloak blocking his way out. He stiffened and got ready to fight.

"Are you Jellal Fernandez?"

* * *

**So, new story :P**

**No pairing yet. I'll put up a poll or something sooner or later.**

**Read and Review, so you can tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 1: Are you Lucy Heartfillia?

_**Chapter ONE**_

Lucy Heartfillia sighted. Yesterday, Natsu had come up to her (again) and asked her if team Natsu could go on a job without her. Since when team Natsu consisted of Lisanna, Lucy did not know.

Since she had paid her rent earlier that week with money she had earned on a job with team Shadow gear, she would be safe for another month or so. No, that was not why she was upset. It was the fact that team Natsu had seen the need to exclude her from their jobs to spend time with Lisanna.

Lucy sighed again. She didn't realize how sad and lonely she must have looked until Mira approached her with a cup of strawberry milkshake in her hand. "

"Are you okay Lucy?" She asked. She placed the cup in front of Lucy. "It's on the house."

"Thanks." Lucy smiled, and took a sip. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just really bored."

Mira smiled back. "Team Natsu left you again?"

Lucy frowned."Yeah." She replied. "Its their fifth job this month." She lay her head onto the table.

Mira looked at her sadly. "Once they get back, I'll have a word with Lisanna." Lucy sat up. "No, its fine." She said, but Mira was already gone.

Lucy sighed, and lowered her head back onto the table.

* * *

Lucy sat up with a start. She must have fallen asleep, because when she looked outside, it looked like the sun had set halfway. She stood up and stretched, called out a goodnight, and left the guild.

She summoned Plue, and walked the usual path towards her apartment.

Once she reached her apartment, Lucy called back Plue. She pulled out her keys and unlocked her apartment door. She opened it and was about to step inside when something wet fell onto her cheek.

She looked up, noting that the sky was too clear for it too be raining. Instead, Lucy stared at the bubble of black liquid that slowly floated down towards her. It stopped when it was about a foot above her head. It hovered there for a second before the bubble burst, and a key fell towards her.

Lucy stood there, frozen for a moment, before she quickly shook her head and caught the key.

The key looked like a zodiac key, though this one was jet black. The bow was in the shape of a skull, completed with red eyes. Where the crest of the spirit should have been was a eye, the iris the colour of ice and the pupil similar to those of a snake. She looked at it for a moment, then turned her gaze upwards, trying to find the source of the falling key.

Shrugging, she stepped inside her house, closed the door, and made her way to her bedroom.

A sudden voice made her jump. 'Are_ you Lucy Heartfillia?'_

Lucy quickly sat up and looked around.

'_There's no one around. This is all inside your head.' _

"Wha-"

_'I am Darque di Daemon.'_

Lucy looked back at the key, her mouth hanging open. The voice inside her head chuckled.

_'You can summon me, you know. I'm not that big, so your room is fine.'_

Lucy hesitated. "What am I supposed to say?" She asked, still in a daze because of a certain telepathic key.

_'You're supposed to be smart, right? But since I'm feeling nice, I'll tell you. __It's similar to summoning any other zodiac key.'_

_'Repeat after me. Open, the Gate of the Devil, Darque.'_

Lucy stood up, and held out the key. "Open, the Gate of the Devil, Darque!"

The key began to glow, letting out a eerie light. Black mist surrounded the key, before the mist began to form into the outline of a person.

The glow died down to reveal a figure in a black hood. Their height just about reached Lucy's shoulder.

"As you should have already guessed, I am the Devil, Darque di Daemon. You are Lucy Heartfillia, I assume."

Lucy slowly nodded.

The figure nodded. "Would you like to form a contract?"

Again, Lucy nodded, still unable to form words.

"I'm free on any day, unless something very important comes up." The figure continued. It held out its hand Lucy hesitantly shook it.

The figure reached out and lowered its hood, revealing a girl with long jet black hair and ice blue eyes. Lucy instantly recognized the girl's eyes to be the same as the one on the key.

Underneath the hood, the girl was wearing a goth lolita dress, a white laced blouse under a black dress. She had a star tattoo right below her right eye. She was wearing black knee high socks and platform lolita boots.

Lucy coughed, finally able to collect herself. "What type of magic do you use?" She asked.

"I use a type of magic called the Hell magic, which allows me to summon the Hell elements. The hottest fire, the coldest ice, the strongest wind, and many more are under my command."

"Wow." Lucy breathed.

"I'm not sure if you have noticed yet, but I do not cost a lot of magic to summon." The girl, Darque continued.

Lucy slowly raised her hand. "Why did you...um...fall out of the sky?" She sat down onto her bed.

Darque plopped down onto the floor and sat crossed legged. "I am one of the two keys of Afterlife. I am the key of Hell, the Devil, Darque the Devil. The other is Lite di Angelo, the key of Heaven, the Angel."

"Believe it or not, Lite is a really evil dude. I hate him." Darque bluntly stated. "He was always the one trying to achieve the top in everything, trying to make everything his." Darque giggled. "Really, I think I should have been born as the gate of Heaven, and he should have been born as the gate of Hell."

"Anyways, I came because I need your help, but I'll start with a small intro." Darque said. "To us, the keys of Afterlife, powerful mages are split into three categories, the mages of Lite are mages who have magic somewhat related to Light. The mages of Darque are mages who have magic related to Darkness. And there are mages who are somewhat related to both, like you, Yukino and Jellal, called Shades."

"Me, Yukino and Jellal?" Lucy asked.

Darque nodded. "Yup. Things related to stars are considered Shade." The girl stretched. "I'll explain everything in detail later. It's getting late, so I'll be going back now. Feel free to call me anytime, though I can talk to you through your mind."

Darque stood up. "You'll have to forgive me, as I have not set foot on this land for some time." Her body began to dissolve into black mist. "Good night."

"Night." Lucy nodded. The black mist swirled around Lucy's room for a while, before returning to the key.

* * *

**So, First chapter :P**

**Tell me what you think in a review!**

**Story ideas are welcome X3**


	3. Chapter 2: First time in a Millennium

**_(IMPORTANT?) NOTE AT THE END, PLEASE READ_**

_**Chapter TWO**_

Lucy was still half asleep as she stepped out of her apartment. She could remember Darque smiling innocently as the girl stuffed images of Erza on a rampage to wake her up. Lucy shook her head to clear the thoughts. Jeez, it was still six in the morning.

If her memory serves her correctly, team Natsu should be back today, sometime after noon.

"Its so early." Lucy groaned. She wanted to crawl back into her bed and sleep a few more hours.

_'Sorry, but I wanted to see the outside world, its been such a long time! I also want to taste this strawberry milkshake you were dreaming of.'_

Lucy brightened. Who could live without having a sip of milkshake?

_'I met your other spirits.'_

Lucy smiled. "Really? How were they?"

_'They were really nice. I like Aquarius's was of thinking. I wanted to punch Loke's brains out. Judging from my appearance, I'm still pretty young, you know?'_

"I agree with the Loke part, but you like Aquarius? She's scary!"

_'Well, yeah.'_

Lucy walked along the river, humming to herself as Darque's voice disappeared from her head.

_'Hey, is that your Guild?' _

Lucy jumped in surprise and looked up to see the Guild doors. Had she been that deep in thought?

Shaking her head, she pushed the doors open and went straight to the bar, waving at people who waved back. She sat down, and waited for Mira to come around.

Surprisingly, Levy was already here. When she saw Lucy, she bounced over with Wendy and Carla and sat on the chair next to her. Gajeel, who was close behind, took a seat beside her.

"Hi, Lu-chan!" Levy grinned.

"Hi Levy-chan, Wendy, hey Gajeel." Lucy smiled. "Hi Carla."

Gajeel grunted, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

Just then, Mira came around. After sharing greetings, Lucy ordered a milkshake. Mira smiled, and nodded, before going to make one. She came back a minute later, and placed the cup on the table.

_'Hey, is that piercing dude Gajeel Redfox? And the blue haired girl Wendy Marvel?"_

Without thinking, Lucy nodded. "Yeah, he's the Metal Dragon slayer, and she's the Sky Dragon slayer. The girl next to him is Levy Macgarden, a Solid Script mage, and that Wendy's exceed, Carla. By the way, this is milkshake."

Levy looked at her. "What?" She asked.

Lucy looked up in surprise, then remembered the others couldn't hear Darque's voice. Now she understood why people on the streets had been looking at her weirdly at her when she was having an argument with Darque. She must have sounded crazy

Lucy could hear Darque laughing at her. "Hey! You did that on purpose!" She complained.

_'Did not!'_

Levy blinked. "Huh? Lu-chan, are you okay?" Gajeel was looking at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Stop annoying me."

Wendy looked worried now. "Lucy-san?"

"Sorry, I'm not talking to you." Lucy said quickly.

_'Okay, okay, I'll stop.'_

"Thank you." Lucy replied curtly

_'For now.'_

"Oh my god." Lucy groaned, slapping her forehead.

"Lucy?" Levy said.

Lucy turned to her friend. "Oh, sorry!"

"Who were you talking to?" Levy asked.

Lucy sighed, then held out the black key. "New spirit."

Levy clapped. "Can you show us?" She grinned.

_'Us. She said us. Means she's including the piercing guy. I think they're cute together.'_

"Its Gajeel, and yeah, I know right?" Gajeel turned to her at the sound of his name.

Lucy smiled and waved her hand. She put some jewels to pay for the milkshake. "Mira, can you watch my milkshake?" She called. Mira turned around and nodded. Lucy smiled and led the way outside.

"You're new spirits that big?" Levy asked as she followed her.

Lucy shook her head. "Nope. I just don't want to scare anyone. She's creepy."

_'I'm not _that_ ugly!'_

Lucy ignored her.

Levy frowned, but didn't say anything. Lucy led the way to the back of the guild. It was still empty.

Lucy held out the key and took a deep breath. "Open, the gate of the Devil, Darque."

The former black mist flooded out again. Levy gasped and took a step back while Wendy leaned forwards. Gajeel narrowed his eyes.

The mist swirled, and a human form stepped out. Darque grinned, this time her hood down.

"I'm Darque di Daemon, the Devil, one of the two keys of Afterlife." She bowed.

Levy immediately pounced on her. "Hi, I'm Levy, this is Wendy and Carla. That's is Gajeel." She said, then turned to Lucy. "How is she creepy?"

Lucy remembered the images that had woken her up that morning, and inwardly shuddered. "A-anyways, want milkshake?"

Daruqe's eyes lit up. "Yep!"

* * *

Just then, the Guild doors were swung open and team Natsu stormed in. Laxus leaned over the second floor balcony to watch.

Mira waved at the new comers. "Welcome back!" She called. "How was your mission?"

Lisanna skipped over, and team Natsu followed her to the bar. "Hey Mira-nee! The missions was really easy."

Mira glanced at Erza, who was grinning like crazy. "What happened to her?"

Lisanna grinned. "We met Jellal on the way back. He said he'll visit soon, because he has something very important to discuss with someone here." Mira squealed, instantly transforming into match maker mode.

* * *

After basic introductions, Lucy led the way back into the guild. Darque was explaining to Levy about the type of magic she used. Guild members stopped what they were doing and glanced at the spirit.

"Hey Luce!" Natsu called.

Lucy smiled a faint smile and waved.

Mira squealed when she saw the spirit. "Oh my! Is that your child Levy?"

Levy blushed. "N-no. She's Lucy's new spirit."

"That came falling from the sky." Lucy muttered.

Mira looked slightly disappointing, but she smiled again.

"Lucy, why don't you introduce us?" Mira exclaimed. Lucy smiled and nodded, picking up her milkshake and passing it to Darque. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a bright flash. Loke suddenly appeared, pouting. "Lucy~, why don't you give _me_ your milkshake?" He wined.

Darque's eyes widened and she jumped onto the bar counter, bristling like a cat. She knocked over a chair in the process and the present guild members turned around to watch. "It's the _pervert._"

Team Natsu crowded around, and watched 'the new girl' attempt to bite Loke's fingers when he reached towards her. Darque took a gulp from the milkshake cup she was still holding and put it down. She jumped down and landed in front of Loke. She stuck her tongue out, then exploded into black mist, which returned to its key.

Loke yelped and jumped back in surprise.

_'You should put a muzzle on him. When I first met him, he tried to lick my hand.'_

Lucy giggled. "_Gentlemen_ kiss the hand of a girl as a greeting."

_'You know, people are staring at you again.' _Darque laughed, and her voice faded.

Lucy looked around her guild, and yes, everyone was looking at her.

"Lucy?" Mira asked. Beside her, Lisanna looked like she was smirking, but it was gone before Lucy could make sure.

"Oh, sorry." Lucy apologized. Levy explained to the guild about the mind conversation Lucy was having with her spirit. "Will you come back out? I'll send Loke back."

_'Sure.'_

Before Loke could protest, Lucy force closed his gate. She then summoned Darque again, who appeared seated on the bar counter.

"Guys, this is my newest spirit, Darque, the Gate of the Devil of Hell. She's one of the two keys of Afterlife." She turned to Darque. "These are my guild mates."

Darque smiled and landed neatly on her feet. "Natsu Dragneel, Wendy Marvel, Gajeel Redfox..." She looked at at Laxus, who was still leaning over the railing. "And Laxus Dreyar." She grinned.

* * *

**NOTE:**

**Hey guys, just wondering if I should make Lisanna act all bitchy. **

**Also, should Lucy leave the guild?  
**

**I have put up a poll for this, but you can also tell me as a PM or a review.**

**I need these info to write the next chapter**

**If any of you like the To aru series, check out my other story-**

**'Always two sides to a story'**

**Next time!**


	4. Chapter 3: VS Natsu

_**Chapter THREE**_

Lucy looked at her. "What?" She asked. Darque shook her head.

"I'm Darque di Daemon, and I use Hell magic, the black elements." She bowed.

Lucy turned to look at Erza, who was still grinning like crazy. "What happened to her?"

Gray sighed. "We met Jellal. He's coming tomorrow to talk to someone about something important." If possible, Erza's grin got bigger.

Darque stiffened. "Jellal Fernandez?" She asked.

Gray nodded. "You know him?"

Darque tilted her head to one side and stuck her tongue out.

Natsu got to her feet after a moment of hesitation. "Luce, fight me!"

Lucy jumped in surprise. "WHAT?!" She gasped.

Natsu grinned. "I said I challenge you to a fight." She said. "You can use all your spirits, and I'll go easy on you."

Lucy placed her hands on her hips. "You'll go _easy_ on me?"

"You know I'm your spirit now, right?" Darque grumbled.

Lucy sighed "What has that got to do with-"

"How do you know? Its been such a long time since I've fought someone. Come on, accept it. If you lose, I'll take responsibility."

Lucy scoffed. "You'll take responsibility." She turned to Natsu. "Sure." She hoped she hadn't made the worst decision of her life.

"Start the match, _and I'll help you." _Darque giggled, her last few words fading with the wind as she dissolved.

* * *

Jellal looked at Merdy's knocked out form, guilt clearly visible on his face. "Sorry." He murmured. He made sure she was laying comfortably on the inn bed, before picking up his belonging and securing his cloak.

After all, he had people to find.

* * *

The whole guild gathered behind the guild. Erza, who was acting as referee, cleared an area for the battle. Erza glanced between the two opponents. "Ready, set, GO!"

Natsu stood still, letting Lucy make the first move. Lucy held up Darque's key.

'Just so you know, this isn't my combat mode, so my attack levels aren't very high.'

Lucy's mouth fell open. "What?" Lisanna looked at her weirdly, so Lucy quickly shook her head.

'Hang on. I'm going to download some stuff into your brain.'

Before Lucy could reply, she felt a sudden pain in her head. She lowered her arm and clutched her head. She could faintly hear her guild mates calling out to her but she couldn't reply. Letters, numbers and images flooded into her head. Lucy caught glimps of what she suspected to have been Darque's memories. Lucy gasped, just managing to stay on her feet. Words began to form.

Suddenly, the pain stopped. Without thinking, Lucy raised Darque's key again. "I, Lucy Heartfilla, call upon the gate of the Underworld to summon the afterlife. Open, the Gate of Hell, Darque di Daemon!"

Mist began to seep out of the key, taking form of a human in front of Lucy. Darque appeared, her appearance completely different from her earlier form. A black eye patch covered her left eye. The yin yang sign had replaced her right eye, though ice blue and blood-red instead of black and white.

She was still wearing her goth Lolita dress, but it was now splattered with red which looked suspiciously like blood.

Lucy felt something attached to her fingers and looked down to notice faint strings made of magic attaching Darque to her. Instinctively, Lucy jerked her fingers and Darque leaped back to stand beside her. Lucy glanced at her newest spirit.

"I can move by myself, but you can also control me. It helps when we need to act according to a plan that I don't know. Rely on your instinct, and you'll learn to control me in no time." Darque whispered. Lucy nodded, not knowing what else to do.

Natsu grinned, then began running towards them. "Fire dragon's Iron fist!"

Lucy gasped. "You said you'll go easy!" She watched the Natsu fly towards her and shut her eyes. _Instinct._ Lucy jerked her fingers and Darque leaped in front of her. She held up her hands and black water began to pool around her fists. Lucy, still with her eyes closed, flicked her fingers again. In the next second, she heard a small explosion and opened her eyes.

Natsu had jumped back to avoid Darque's punch. Her water had managed to repel Natsu's fire. Lucy wanted to collapse in relief, but reminded herself that Natsu looked more 'fired up' than ever.

Natsu leaped forward to attack again. Lucy jerked her fingers and pulled Darque out of the way. Natsu kept attacking, and Lucy didn't have any time to think of a plan. She knew Darque could move on her own but she had a better view of the battle field. She needed a distraction.

She reached one hand towards her keys, and sent a telepathic image of her plan to her chosen spirit. "Open the Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"

Taurus appeared in a bright flash and he immediately raised his labrys. He brought it down full force, creating a fissure. Lucy jerked her hand and yanked Darque out of the way. The ground split open between her and Natsu. Rocks blasted into the air, forcing Natsu to draw back.

Telling Taurus to return, Lucy quickly formed a plan in her head.

_Water is effective against fire_. Lucy imagined Darque controlling the water so it hit Natsu, then moved her fingers. Darque mirrored Lucy's imaginary moves and sent a stream of water straight at Natsu while a second stream of water creeped around behind him. When Natsu dodged the wave, Darque sent the second stream of water. Natsu heard it but couldn't dodge it in time. He gulped, bracing himself for the attack, but when the water hit him, it didn't hurt. It just soaked him.

Natsu looked confused. Lucy inwardly grinned. She had made sure the water was not strong enough to cause damage. Pretending to be weak would lower Natsu's guard. Or at least, Lucy hoped. Lucy didn't know _how_ she knew, but she knew Natsu's flame could not evaporate Darque's water.

_Water conducts electricity well._ Lucy pictured Darque sending a bolt of black electricity at Natsu. Darque moved, dodging Natsu's Fire dragon's claw, and summoned black electricity. She molded it into a lightning bolt and at a flick of Lucy's fingers, sent it flying towards Natsu.

Natsu's eyes widened and he quickly jumped out of the way. Darque formed two more lightning bolts and sent them flying. Natsu dodged the first, but before he could move to dodge the second lightning bolt circled around and knocked into him.

Natsu's eyes widened as the electricity traveled through him. Lucy had adjusted the power, making sure no permanent damage was caused. The attack was just about strong enough to paralyze him. He fell to the floor and lay there, twitching.

Lucy moved to stand beside her spirit, who was crouching over Natsu, sticking her tongue out. Lucy smiled and made Darque return to the Spirit world. Of course, the final attack was her classical "Lucy KICK!"

She sent Natsu flying, effectively knocking him out.

* * *

Jellal and Rogue Cheney crept deeper into the prison. How long had it taken him to convince the Shadow Dragon Slayer of Sabertooth to sneak into prison? Jellal still couldn't believe he was doing this himself.

Rogue transformed into a shadow and slipped past the guards, knocking them out. Jellal followed him, checking to make sure no other guard were around.

Jellal stopped when he saw Rogue standing outside a cell. He joined him and looked through the bars.

Midnight and Cobra of Oracion Seis were sitting against the prison walls made of Magic sealing stones. They were both wearing magic repressing cuffs. Though they both had their eyes closed, Jellal knew they were awake.

On cue, Cobra opened his eyes and looked up to glare at them. "What do you want?"

Jellal didn't reply. Instead, he examined the prison wall. After a while, he spoke. "I have a proposition for you. Depending on your answer, we will break you out."

Midnight looked up, but neither of the criminals said a word.

Jellal stepped back and Rogue wordlessly took his place. Grabbing the bars, he ripped them apart using his magic. They both stepped through into the prison and Jellal cleared his throat.

* * *

**Hi guys, new chapter! Yay~**

**Lisanna is not going to be evil... (As not evil as she can be anyways, cuz I don't really like her)**

**And... Lucy is going to leave Fairy Tail and create a (temporary?) guild with Jellal, Rogue, Midnight, Cobra and whoever else that joins them.**

**The poll to decide pairings is up, so go vote at my profile, though I also accept votes through PMs and reviews.**

**Options:**

**-Lucy x Jellal**

**-Lucy x Cobra**

**-Lucy x Midnight**

**-Lucy x Rogue**

**-Lucy x Sting (Not sure about this one, as its pretty common)**

**-Lucy x Laxus**

**-Lucy x Gajeel**

**-Other; PM or review and I'll add them to the pairing options (I don't want to make this fanfic into a Nalu, so no Natsu. Unless lots and Lots and LOTS of people vote for it.)**

**Don't forget to leave me a review. Ideas for future chapters are welcome!**


	5. Chapter 4: Breaking in

**_Chapter FOUR_**

Lucy was sitting on an infirmary bed as Wendy quickly healed her of small cuts and bruises. Natsu was lying down in a bed beside her, still out cold.

The moment the battle had ended, Lucy had been overwhelmed by her guild mates who were complimenting her on her victory over Natsu, as well as showering her with questions. Darque looked like she was going to blast everyone away with lightning or something, so Lucy had quickly closed her gate.

Wendy's medical side had taken over and she had shooed everyone away with such ferocity that everyone had left without arguing.

Lucy tried to collect her thoughts. The images and words she had seen before she activated Darque's battle mode. She was pretty sure they were Darque's memories, and most didn't seem very pleasant. She made a mental note to herself to ask her spirit about it later, as she was sure they were related to the reason Darque had appeared out of no where. Though the spirit hadn't elaborated anything, Lucy suspected her sudden appearance had something to do with the 'really evil dude', Lite di Angelo.

Lucy was wrenched out of her thoughts when Natsu let out a groan. Wendy came flying to his bed and placed her hand onto his forehead. "He'll be fine." She announced. "He should be waking up soon."

Lucy sighed. Wendy checked over her injures again. "You'll be fine. Just rest." She decided. "And replenish your magic."

"Thanks Wendy!" Lucy grinned. Wendy shyly smiled back.

After a few minutes of arguing, Wendy finally allowed Lucy to go out and meet the guild. The moment she had stepped out of the infirmary and caught sight of the bar, she was already surrounded by her guild mates.

Lucy finally managed to sit at the bar and Mira quickly chased everyone away with a threat. Lucy wondered how she could say such words with a smile.

Levy, Gajeel, Erza and Gray joined her at the bar.

Gray and Gajeel demanded that she fight them at once. Lucy quickly declined the challenge, stating that she was very tired. Levy was looking at her with admiration clear in her eyes and even Erza looked impressed.

"Lu-chan, I have a question." Levy spoke up. Lucy nodded at her to go on. "When you were fighting, you kept making these movement with your fingers. What was that about?"

Lucy paused. She couldn't see the strings? Though they were pretty thin, they were so bright.

_'Those strings are made of your magic and are only visible to you. Once you learn how, you can harden them and use them like wire.' _Darque said.

Lucy jumped. She had forgotten about her spirit's ability to talk to her through her mind. She then repeated Darque's explanation out loud.

"I'm not exactly sure what they are though." Lucy finished. She said goodbye after a while and made her way home.

_'Hey Lucy!'_

"What?" Lucy asked.

_'Something came up, so don't summon me until I tell you, okay?'_

Lucy was surprised, but agreed nonetheless. "Sure. Just tell me when you're back, okay?"

_'Yeah'_

Lucy nodded. "Then it's fine."

_'Before I go, I have something very important to tell you. In a day or so, some people are going to come see you.'_

Lucy waited for her spirit to continue.

_'The real reason I'm here is because I need your help. The problem is, this may force you to work with people you were previously enemies with. But you're my only hope, and-'_

"Hang on, why do you need my help?" Lucy asked.

_"I'll start from the beginning. The keys of Afterlife are dropped into the human world once every five hundred years or so. The two keys must then find two owners. Since I'm a Darque key, I must find an owner who is a Darque type. Lite must form a contract with a Lite type mage. However, there is a type of mage that lingers between the two, called the Shade. That's what you are.'_

_'When one key of Afterlife kills the other, they gain their powers, granting them and their key owners absolute power and magic.' _

_'When the two Afterlife keys meet, our first instinct is to kill each other. After all, we are opposites. When one of us comes out victorious, the victor gains the power of the other. According to a source, Lite's owner is also someone who's after power. You may be in danger.'_

_'This is an cycle that has been going on for longer than even I can remember. Long ago, this battle used to be just between the two keys and their owners. However, over the time, Lite began bringing more and more people into this. In order to counter this, I have asked my other owner to find other Darque type mages. When Darque, Lite and Shade type mages go full out onto one another, those who aren't considered on of the three types will be in grave danger.'_

"So me being in Fairy tail will endanger everyone." Lucy breathed.

There was a swirl of mist and Darque appeared before her. "I'm so sorry!" She cried, lowering her head. "For the past few times this cycle had gone around, I made sure I made a contract with solo-mages. But when I fell right to you the other day, I thought it was some of sign that you were supposed to be my contractor and I-"

Lucy gently placed her hand onto the girls head. "It's fine." She smiled. "All we have to do is beat us this Lite dude and his followers, right?"

Darque bit her lip. "But your guild mates..."

"Well, maybe I'll need to take a rest from the guild. It'll be a good experience." Lucy smiled sadly. "Don't you have somewhere to go?"

Darque looked down and slowly nodded. "Yeah, sorry. I'll answer any questions when I get back." She disappeared into a puff of black smoke and mist.

Lucy checked her key pouch and sure enough, Darque's key was gone.

* * *

Jellal glared between the two paths. Rogue was sniffing the air while Cobra and Midnight were still rubbing their wrists where the magic repressing cuffs had left red marks. Though they were free of their cuffs, they were still drained of magic. If they were ambushed, they wouldn't be much help on the magic side.

Jellal growled in annoyance. This prison was like a maze! It was not his fault the guards had began looking for them and they had to look for another way out.

Jellal turned to Rogue. "Which way?" He asked.

Rogue shrug, then pointed left. "That way seems used more often." He said.

Jellal nodded. "Right it is." He led the way down the right path. From there, there were no more split paths, just one straight, very long corridor.

Rogue looked up sharply. "Wait." He said, making everyone stop. "I can hear lots of voices coming from there." He pointed in the direction they were moving in.

Behind him, Cobra sighed. "Are we going to backtrack?"

Jellal opened his mouth when Rogue shook his head. "I can also hear someone coming from the we came. It's faint, but they're there."

"I say we go forwards. If we're lucky, there'll be an open area where we can fight." Rogue stated.

Jellal groaned. "After all this, luck owes us."

The good news was, the corridor gave way to a huge open are with a door leading to the exit on the other side. The bad news was, there were countess amounts of guards standing around, all armed. Seemed like they were a group of guards just about to be deployed.

Cobra cracked his knuckles. "Are we just going to charge?" He whispered.

Jellal nodded. "Though I think those guards don't use magic, there may be others who can." He took a deep breath, hoping his idea would work.

"Darque." He muttered. "I gathered the other three, but we're sorta surrounded. We can use some help."

Rogue and Cobra heard him easily with their dragon hearing. "What?" Cobra asked.

Jellal shook his head. He held up his finger, asking them to keep quiet. "Darque."

A sudden static sound filled his head.

_'I can hear you, jeez.'_

Jellal sighed. "So, are you going to help us? It's all your fault we're in this mess in the first place."

_'Hang on. I need to tell my other owner not to summon me. We just beat up Natsu.'_

A sudden extra weight around his neck made his look down. A black key had mysteriously appeared around his neck, attached to a chain necklace. Jellal sighed again, before holding up the key. He turned to the other three and saw them all staring at him.

"What?" He asked.

"Who were you talking to?" Midnight asked before yawning.

Jellal shrug. "It's a surprise." Cobra opened his mouth but Jellal interrupted him. "Are you guys ready?"

"Never knew you were a Celectial mage." Rogue muttered.

Jellal ignored him. Instead, he raised the key. ""I, Jellal Fernandez, call upon the gate of the Underworld to summon the afterlife. Open, the Gate of Hell, Darque di Daemon!"

* * *

**New chapter :) Make sure you read and review. **

**The votes for pairings are still ongoing. Vote at the poll on my profile, PM me, or just post as a review.**

**Pairings so far:**

**Jellal x Lucy: 16**

**Cobra x Lucy: 9**

**Midnight x Lucy: 10**

**Sting x Lucy: 5**

**Rogue x Lucy: 5**

**Laxus x Lucy: 7**

**Gajeel x Lucy: 1**

**Natsu x Lucy: 2**

**Ideas and suggestions are welcome.**

**Don't forget to review!**


	6. Chapter 5: Arrival of Jellal Fernandez

_**Chapter FIVE**_

Lucy was already asleep when Darque's key returned to her key pouch. The tingling feeling had woken her. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. She glanced at her clock and groaned. It was still four in the morning and she knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep again.

Instead, she debated over whether she should ask Darque her story now, or if she should just wait until morning. She moved absentmindedly moved towards her desk and twirled her pen.

There was a poof of black smoke and Darque stood there, rubbing her eyes. She yawned and flopped down onto the bed. Lucy turned around in her chair.

"Did I wake you?" Darque asked.

Lucy shrug. "Its fine. I'm not sleepy anyways.

"Sorry." Darque said. "I mean about the thing against Lite and endangering you and your guild mates and-"

"You're my friend too." Lucy declared. "You're my friend so I'll help you."

Darque smiled a teary smile and stood up. She walked over to Lucy and hugged her.

After a while, Darque finally calmed down . "Do you have any question?"

Lucy nodded. "A few." She said. "If Lite is a spirit, how do you kill him?"

"Me and Lite are both keys of Afterlife, so we can kill each other." She explained.

"Oh." Lucy paused. "Then, you said you guys are both dropped into the human world once every five hundred years. Do you guys die and...er...come back to life again and again? How does the...cycle end?" Lucy asked.

Darque looked down sheepishly. "The cycle end the moment one of us dies. I've managed to escape meeting Lite all this time. There's a ritual I can hold on a full moon than will allow me to forcibly restart the cycle. But in order to do so, something needs to be sacrificed. The sacrifice is different each time. At first, it was small things, like a rare plant or a antique cup or something like than. But recently..." Darque smiled. "Yeah, _recently_, the sacrifice is getting more bigger and bigger. If I remember correctly, four cycles ago, I had to steal a treasured photo album from an wealthy album. Three cycles ago, the sacrifice was a stray cat. Two cycles ago, I had to raid an graveyard and sacrifice a corpse." Darque stiffened. "Last time, I...I had to k-kill a young ch-child."

Lucy froze in shock.

"The child had been adopted into a family, but he wasn't properly cared for. His parents had died in an accident or something and he was dying of an illness as well. Even if I hadn't killed him, he would have died in three days at most. Still, I..."

Darque shook her head. "If Lite and I meet in battle and if I loose, that would allow him and his owners to grant one wish each. That would cause chaos, because Lite only contracts with those who are power hungry."

Lucy paused. "Wait. Grant on wish?" She asked. Darque nodded. "I thought it was unlimited power and magic."

Darque looked surprised. "Isn't that what all people wish for? Or maybe its money or eternal life." Now she looked confused.

Lucy smiled. "Not everybody wishes for things like that. If I could grant one wish, I would wish that all the people I care about lead a happy life."

Darque stared at her, her look of surprise slowly giving way to a smile. "That's similar to what my other owner said."

"Other owner?" Lucy asked.

Darque grinned and placed a finger over her lips. "It's a surprise. Your partner should arrive today."

Lucy nodded. "Can I tell master about this?"

Darque hesitated, but slowly nodded.

"If I do, he'll understand my sudden decision to leave the guild."

Darque looked guilty again. "You...you wont be lonely or anything." She said. "I asked my other owner to gather some people that I think will help us. You guys should create a tempoary guild together or something."

Lucy thought about this and inwardly smiled.

Lucy glanced her clock. "Its already six." She hadn't realized how long they had been talking.

Darque stood up and bowed. "I'll take my leave for now." She said. Lucy nodded and Darque disappeared in a burst of black smoke.

* * *

Lucy spend the next hour at her desk, writing a long letter to her mother. She smiled and got up, deciding to head to the guild.

Lucy stepped through the guild doors and smiled when she noticed that the usual free-for-all brawl had already started. She carefully made her way around the huge mess and took a seat at the bar. When Mira came around, they exchanged greetings before Lucy ordered a strawberry milkshake.

She felt a sudden weight on her shoulder and looked up to see Laxus standing there with his hand on her shoulder.

Lucy inwardly shuddered. She had never talked to Laxus in person before, and she had no idea what he wanted with her. She quickly looked around and noted that the Raijinshu were standing behind Laxus.

She gulped and looked at Laxus. "What can I do for you?"

Laxus smirked. "Hey Blondie." He said. "Interested in accepting my duel request?"

Natsu heard this, and he came storming over. "What?" He asked, and turned to Lucy. "Hey Luce." He said, before turning back to Laxus. "You don't accept my challenge but you ask Luce-"

"You lost to Blondie." Laxus interrupted. "I have no interest in weaklings..."

Lucy took a deep breath.

_'Interesting bunch, huh?'_

"What am I supposed to do?" Lucy groaned. She didn't notice that Laxus and Natsu had stopped arguing to listen to her.

_'Accept! Accept it!'_

"What? Why?" Lucy asked. "Laxus is like, really strong and-"

_'Didn't you say the same thing about Natsu?'_

Lucy groaned. "Argg! No, I'm not going to fight. I'm tired and if you really want to fight, go pick fights yourself."

"Luce?" Natsu asked. Lucy looked up. "Are you okay?"

Lucy blinked, then slapped her hand over her mouth. Darque's laugh echoed through her head. "Oh my god!" Lucy groaned. "Stupid spirit."

_'Hey!' _

Lucy ignored her spirits enraged cry and slammed her head onto the table.

Suddenly, the door was thrown open. A cloaked figure stepped through. Blue hair was visible from underneath the hood.**  
**

_'Your partner has arrived.'_

The figure lowered its hood, and Lucy saw a red tattoo around the figures brown right eye. Erza, who had been seated at a table with team Natsu, leaped to her feet.

Standing at the guild's entrance was Jellal Fernandez.

* * *

**The votes for pairings are still ongoing. Vote at the poll on my profile, PM me, or just post as a review.**

**Pairings so far:**

**Jellal x Lucy: 17**

**Cobra x Lucy: 10**

**Midnight x Lucy: 11**

******Laxus x Lucy: 7**

**********Natsu x Lucy:5**

**Sting x Lucy: 5**

**Rogue x Lucy: 5**

**Gajeel x Lucy: 1**

**Ideas and suggestions are welcome.**

**Don't forget to review!**


	7. Chapter 6: Missing guild mark

_**Chapter SIX**_

Lucy glanced subconsciously at Erza, who looked ready to faint. Jellal stood there as the guild stared at him. Master came out from his office to see why everything was so quiet all of a sudden. He too, froze as he stared at the new comer.

Finally, Jellal himself broke the silence. "Hello, Master Makarov."

Makarov blinked. "Hello Jellal, what can I do for you today?"

Jellal smiled. "I'm here because I have something very important to do. However, I'll be staying in Magnolia for a few days. I would also like to spend some time in the guild, if you will allow, that is."

Makarov grinned ad nodded. "Of course, you're welcome here."

The moment Makarov gave his permission, the guild swarmed over to Jellal, asking questions. Everyone froze when they heard a deadly aura and they slowly turned around. Erza stood there, glaring at her guildmates. Everyone quickly stepped away and Erza stormed over to Jellal.

Jellal smiled. "Hi Erza."

Erza opened her mouth. "H-hello J-J-Jellal." She stuttered. The guild stared at her sudden personality change. She looked so stiff Lucy worried that her friend might snap.

_'Hey, what are you doing?'_

"What?"

_'I told you, that's your partner. Go talk to him.'_

Lucy hesitated. "But Erza-"

There was a poof of smoke and Darque appeared, standing on the bar counter. Everyone, including Erza and Jellal turned to look at her. Jellal's eyes slightly widened, but no one noticed.

Darque crossed her arms. "Now, go!" She ordered.

Lucy sighed. "Maybe later." She muttered.

Darque sighed. "Why? The sooner you end this, the better, right?"

Lucy groaned, and looked at the spirit. "Force gate Closer." She said, and Darque exploded into black mist.

_'Jeez. Just having fun, ya know? Hey, guess what__! Since Jellal is also a Shade, and he's also my owner, he can summon me too__!'_

A static sound filled Lucy's head. The moment it cleared, Lucy's hands flew to her key pouch and sure enough, Darque's black key was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Jellal stared at Darque in surprise and shock. She could only be summoned by her owners, right? Did that mean Lucy was Darque's other owner?

Since he was too far away, he couldn't hear Lucy and Darque's exchange but he noticed that after a while, Lucy had force closed Darque's gate. Then the now familiar weight around his neck appeared and he looked down. Yep, that was definitely Darque's key.

_'Hey, summon me__!'_

Jellal sighed. "Why?" He whispered.

_'Come on__! Later, I'll introduce you to your partner, but for now, let me have some fun__!'_

Jellal sighed again before taking off her key and sweeping it across in front of him, muttering the summoning words under his breath. Darque appeared a few meters in front of him. She waved cheekily at Lucy before turning and darting out of the guild.

_'Just going for a little walk.'_

Jellal nodded absent mindedly as her words faded away. He looked up as Lucy groaned, a hand to her head. He was still too far from her but he was pretty sure the Celestial mage had muttered 'Stupid spirit'.

* * *

Lucy leaned towards the bar counter. She slammed her head against the table in annoyance then bolted back up, rubbing her forehead. Had she slammed it that hard?

Why had Jellal agreed to summon the spirit? If Darque had decided to stay at the guild and make Lucy's life miserable, she would have delivered a Lucy kick right into Jella's face.

She could hear the guild's usual brawl going on. She slowly turned around and looked towards where Erza was seated with Jellal along with team Natsu, Wendy, Carla, Juvia and Lisanna. (Lucy still didn't know if Lisanna was a part of Team Natsu.)

Lucy noticed the way Erza was sitting close to Jellal, and she also noticed how Jellal looked uncomfortable. The others didn't seem to notice. Natsu was too busy challenging Jellal into a fight, which Jellal declined almost instantly. Gray was trying to get Juvia off his arm. Wendy and Carla were talking quietly to one another, occasionally offering their opinion towards the conversation Erza and Jellal seemed to be having. Lastly, Lisanna was busy clinging to Natsu's arm, who didn't even acknowledge her. Lucy didn't know how she felt about that.

Lucy then realized with a start that the Crime Sorcière guild mark was gone from Jellal's cloak.

Lucy turned back to the bar and half listened to Mira going on about how Jellal and Erza looked like a couple.

Lucy was still lost in thought when she felt a sharp gaze burning holes into her back. She slowly turned around, worrying it was Erza for some reason. Instead, she met Jellal's brown gaze. She held it for a moment before dropping her gaze to the floor subconsciously. She slowly looked up and saw that Jellal was still looking at her.

Lucy suddenly felt a tingle and she slightly shivered. She still wasn't used to the feeling. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Jellal sit up and shake his head, as if he had felt the tingle too. She instinctively reached with her hand to checked her key pouch. Darque had just returned.

Said spirit appeared with a poof and looked at Lucy.

"How was your walk?" Lucy asked.

Darque grinned. "It was fun. Nearly everything had changed and was new. Next time, you can come with me. It'll be more fun!"

She dove into Lucy's arm and gave her a hug. "It was amazing." She whispered. Lucy inwardly smiled. Maybe Darque wasn't always a pain in the neck. She could be childish if she wanted to. She changed her mind a second later. Darque burst into black mist, leaving Lucy coughing. Her giggles faded along with the smoke.

No, Darque was a devil.

When Lucy finally managed to stop coughing, she looked at Jellal and their gazes met again. He slowly reached down and tapped the side of his hip, where Lucy had her key pouch. Lucy smiled and faintly nodded. Jellal grinned and pointed at her key pouch. He then mimed wiping his forehead with his hand. 'Darque sure is a handful.' He mouthed.

Until now, some part of Lucy had denied the fact that Jellal was her partner. That Darque was just messing with her. However, now she was ready to accept it. He didn't seem so bad. Yes, Jellal Fernandez, former criminal, definitely was her partner.

* * *

**Here's chapter six! **

**Was Jellal a bit OOC? Tell me what you think!**

**Don't forget to Review~ X3**

**The votes for pairings are still ongoing. Vote at the poll on my profile, PM me, or just post as a review.**

**Pairings so far:**

**Jellal x Lucy: 33**

**Midnight x Lucy: 19**

**Cobra x Lucy: 15**

**Laxus x Lucy: 14**

**Rogue x Lucy: 9**

**Sting x Lucy: 6**

**Natsu x Lucy: 5**

**Gajeel x Lucy: 3**

**Ideas and suggestions are welcome.**


	8. Chapter 7: The others

**_Chapter SEVEN_**

Lucy took a deep breath and smiled. She glanced at Jellal again and when she manage to catch his gaze, she nodded towards the guild doors and Jellal seemed to get the message. He said something to the people on his table. After a while they nodded, though Erza seemed somewhat reluctant.

Jellal secretly shot Lucy a glance and gave her a faint nod. Lucy stood up from her stool and told Mira that she was going to head home. When the take-over mage commented on the time, Lucy gently shook her away, telling her that she was simply tired. Mira accepted her reasoning and Lucy called out some "Byes" and "See yous" before slipping out of the guild.

* * *

Jellal caught the look Lucy was sending him. He watched her nod towards the doors and he instantly got her message. 'We need to talk.' He gave her a faint nod and turned to Erza and her friends. _  
_

"I need to look for a place to stay the next couple of days." He said. That wasn't fully a lie.

Erza perked up. "We can accompany you." She offered. Lisanna nodded enthusiastically. Jellal frowned slightly. Why wasn't Lucy sitting with the rest of her team?

Jellal shook his head, half to clear his head and half to decline Erza's offer. If Erza and her friends came with him, it would ruin the whole talk-to-Lucy-alone thing. Erza frowned, but didn't press any further.

"Very well. Since you are spending the next few days here, maybe we can go on a short mission and spend some time together." She said. Jellal nodded absentmindedly.

Jellal was watching Lucy leave the guild from the corner of his eye. He wasn't really close to the Celestial mage. One of the few things he knew about her included the fact that she was one of Erza's closest friends.

He stood up, picking his bags up at the same time. "Okay, I'll be going." He said. Erza nodded and Wendy offered him a small wave. Natsu and Gray both glared at each other before turning to nod at him.

Random guild members offered him a farewell and he nodded back. He wrapped his cloak around himself and stepped out of the guild.

Lucy was leaning against the wall of the guild, her eyes closed. She opened them when Jellal approached her. She offered him a smile and tilted her head as she pointed towards the woods. Jellal nodded and he silently followed her as led the way down the path and into the trees.

Suddenly, Lucy broke of the path and led the way deeper into the trees. Curious, Jellal followed her. The trees soon gave way to a beautiful clearing. Flowers dotted the are and there was a stream that ran into a small lake nearby. Jellal looked back the way they had come and noted that the entrance was completely covered by trees, leaves and bushes.

Lucy plopped onto the ground by the stream and patted the ground next to her, telling Jellal to do the same. He dropped to the ground and they sat there for a few minutes in awkward silence.

Finally, Jellal opened his mouth. "This place is beautiful." He said, looking around the clearing.

Lucy smiled. "Since team Natsu began going on missions with Lisanna, I've had a lot of spare time. I was exploring the woods and I accidentally ran across this place." There was another awkward silence.

Lucy took a deep breath. "So you're Darque's other owner?" It wasn't really a question but Jellal answered anyways.

"Yeah, and I take that you are as well?" Lucy nodded, then turned to him with a smiled.

"I'm Lucy Heartfillia, Celestial mage of Fairy Tail." She introduced herself.

Jellal smiled back. "I'm Jellal Fernandez, a Heavenly body magic user and member of Crime Sorcière." He paused. "Well, _ex_ member of Crime Sorcière."

Lucy frowned. "Ex?"

Jellal nodded. "The whole might-put-your-friends-and-guild mates-in-danger thing." He said.

Darque suddenly appeared with a poof. "Sorry."

Lucy smiled at her. "I told you already. You're my friend and I'll help you no matter what."

Jellal felt a surge of admiration for Lucy. The rumors he had heard about the gentle Celestial mage were true. He nodded in agreement. "I agreed to help you as well, so that's what I'll do."

Darque smiled. "Did you find the people I asked for?" She asked.

Jellal nodded while Lucy looked quizzically at them. He nodded reassuringly at her, then reached into his traveling bag and pulled out a Communication Lacrima. "Should I call them?" He asked. Darque nodded.

She turned to Lucy and they began talking about random things while Jellal tried to connect a call to the Communication Lacrima Rogue was holding. He heard Lucy begin to talk about the missions she had gone on with her team when Rogue appeared on the crystal.

"Hi." Jellal said. Rogue looked at him before nodding a greeting.

"I've met up with Darque's other owner. Where do you want to meet." He asked. He waited patiently as Rogue turned around to ask Cobra and Midnight for their opinions. He turned back a minute later. "They want to want to eat. Anywhere with food is fine."

Jellal nodded. "Somewhere with not many people." He added. Rogue nodded.

Jellal paused. "Hang on, I have an idea." He turned to Lucy, who was still deep in conversation with Daruqe.

"Guys." Jellal called. Lucy paused and looked up.

"What?" She asked.

Jellal ran a hand sheepishly through his blue hair. "Err, we need a place top meet up with the others and we're all pretty hungry so we were wondering if we could...er...gather at your house."

Lucy blinked, then slowly placed a finger onto her chin. "Well, I guess we could. But team Natsu breaks into my house often so we're going to have to do something about that."

"So, its fine?" Jellal asked.

Lucy nodded.

"Don't tell your companion your partner is Lucy." Darque whispered. She grinned, then turned back to her contractor.

Jellal turned back to face Rogue. "We're meeting at L...um...Darque's other owner's house." He said.

Rogue nodded. "Address?"

"Strawberry street. It's orange with a brown roof." Darque said.

Jellal nodded then relayed it to Rogue who nodded.

Jellal leaned back onto his hands. "Well, I'll see you guys there." He said, and Rogue nodded before cutting the connection. He turned to back to Lucy, who had sent Darque back.

"We should go now." He said. Lucy nodded, then glanced towards the lake. She was about to stand up when Jellal hesitantly offered her his hand. Lucy, equally as hesitant, took it and let Jellal help her to her feet. She smiled and he offered a small grin in return.

* * *

**Don't forget to Review and tell what you think~ X3**

**I'm still worried Jellal's a bit OOC. Tell me if you think so as well.**

**The votes for pairings are still ongoing. Vote at the poll on my profile, PM me, or just post as a review.**

**Pairings so far:**

**Jellal x Lucy: 36**

**Midnight x Lucy: 19**

**Cobra x Lucy: 19**

**Laxus x Lucy: 17**

**Rogue x Lucy: 10**

**Sting x Lucy: 6**

**Natsu x Lucy: 5**

**Gajeel x Lucy: 5**

**Ideas and suggestions are welcome.**


	9. Chapter 8: Make friends day

_**Chapter EIGHT**_

Jellal followed Lucy into her apartment after she had unlocked it.

"The others aren't here." Jellal noted.

Lucy nodded, then listened for the faint static sound at the back of her mind. "Darque, who are the others?" She asked out loud.

Before Darque could reply, Jellal smirked. "It's a secret."

_'Oh, okay.'_

Lucy crossed her arms and faintly pouted. "Hey!"

Jellal smiled, then paused. Hadn't Darque been talking to him? He glanced at Lucy, surprised.

_'I can talk to both of you at the same time, you know.'_

Lucy let out a faint "Oh."

* * *

A familiar black mist began seeping out of Lucy's key pouch and Darque appeared again. A bright flash followed and Virgo appeared after her.

Lucy smiled at her spirits. "Hi guys." She smiled. Darque smiled back and jumped onto Lucy's couch while Virgo stood there with her stoic expression. She offered Lucy a bow. "Hello princess, punishment?"

"Hi Virgo. Er...no punishment. I just need you to prepare something to eat for..." She turned to Jellal. "At least tell me how many people are coming."

Jellal grinned after he had recovered from the 'punishment' comment. "Sure princess." He said.

Lucy sighed.

"Me, you..." He trailed off. "Um, one, two, three." He said, counting each one off with his finger. "Five including you and me."

Lucy nodded curtly at him, then turned to Virgo. "Five people. Please prepare something to eat for five people."

Darque sat up. "I think one of them has a huge appetite." She said.

Jellal wondered if she was talking about him, then remembered the huge appetite Natsu had and decided she was talking about Cobra, as Rogue didn't seem to be the type of person to stuff their face.

Lucy frowned. "Uh, then something to eat for six people." Lucy looked at Jellal. "This would be way easier if you would just tell me who the 'others' are." She glowered, but Jellal could see the faint smile playing on her lips and decided that he would be alive for the next couple of days. He had heard from Natsu about how scary the blonde could be, and he had had injuries to prove it.

What kind of things would Lucy have picked up from a certain demonic red-head? After all, Lucy was Erza's best friend, right?

"Please bring the food when the 'others' get here." Lucy instructed.

Virgo bowed, then disappeared in with a flash of gold light.

Lucy nodded to herself, looking satisfied, then she turned to face Darque. She tapped her foot impatiently against the ground. "Darque, why can't you tell me?" She asked.

Darque moved so Lucy was standing directly between her and Jellal. She winked, making sure Jellal couldn't see her. "It's a secret." She said, mimicking Jellal's tone.

"Hey! I do not sound like that!" Jellal protested.

"You do!" Darque said.

Lucy grinned. "No you don't." She said, and Jellal shot a triumph look at Darque. "You sound even weirder."

Jellal paused, as if he was trying to wrap his mind around what Lucy had said. "Wait, what?"

Lucy burst into a fit of giggles. She opened her mouth, but was interrupted by a knock on her door. She strained her ears, and heard multiple voices. She moved to open the door but Darque stopped her.

She turned to Jellal and gestured towards the door. "If you please." She said.

Jellal sighed, but did as asked. While he moved towards the door, Darque pushed Lucy onto the couch. "Sit, and don't freak out."

Lucy nodded uncertainly. A moment later, Lucy heard a voice that seemed to be tugging a certain memory at the back of her head, though she couldn't remember exactly where she had heard it.

Lucy turned towards the corridor leading to the door to meet Cobra's disbelieving gaze. Darque tapped Lucy's head reassuringly then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The poison dragon slayer turned to Jellal, who had appeared behind him. "She's your partner?" He asked skeptically. Jellal nodded. Two others appeared behind him. Both Rogue and Midnight glanced at her before offering her a slight nod.

Lucy sat there in shock. She was supposed to work with them? She remembered Darque telling her to stay calm and just about managed to restrain herself from screaming bloody murder.

She took a couple of deep breath then looked at the new comers again. She met Cobra's smirking gaze and she resisted the urge to beat the crap out of Cobra. What was his problem? She ran through a list of insults in her mind, wanting to get a reaction out of him. He could hear her thoughts, right?

When Cobra's smirking expression didn't change, Lucy frowned slightly.

_'He can't hear you, if that's what you're wondering about.'_

Lucy's frown deepened. "What? Why?"

_'Lets just say I exist in your thoughts as well, and I'm protecting it. As long as I'm here, you wont have to worry about people taking over or reading your mind.'_

Lucy smiled. "Oh, okay, thanks." She glanced at the other people in the room and noticed that they didn't look very surprised. Jellal must have told them.

A flash of gold distracted her from her thoughts and Virgo appeared. "May I set the table now princess?"

Lucy nodded at her. "Yes please." Virgo bowed, then moved over to the table. The spirit brought out a huge plate from who-knows-where and placed it onto the table. Lucy nodded, satisfied, and turned back to her new 'teammates'.

She sighed, wondering what to say when Jellal stepped forwards.

"Okay. I am pretty sure that you guys already know each other, but lets start with introductions. After that, Darque, can you come out and answer everyone's question?"

_'Sure.'_

Jellal nodded. "Then, I'm Jellal Fernandez, ex member of Crime Sorcière." He paused. "I use Heavenly body Magic and I'm one of Darque's owners and a Shade type mage." He gestured at Lucy.

"Well, I'm Lucy Heartfillia. I'm a Celestial mage of Fairy tail and I'm Darque's other owner. I'm also a Shade type." She glared at Cobra and when he smirked, she looked away.

Cobra plopped down onto the floor next to Midnight, who looked asleep. "Cobra. Former member of Oración Seis and Poison Dragon Slayer. Darque type." His expression was unreadable.

He nudged Midnight with his elbow. Midnight's eyes flew open. "What? Oh, yeah." He yawned. "Midnight. Former member of Oración Seis. I use Reflector magic. Darque."

He grunted at Rogue who sighed. "Rogue. Shadow Dragon Slayer. Sabertooth. Darque type."

Cobra leaned back and threw his hands up. "What is this, make friends day?"

_'Says someone who looked excited about the whole thing.'_

Lucy laughed, covering her mouth with one hand. Even Jellal was grinning.

Cobra glared at them. "What?"

Lucy grinned at him and shook her head. "Nothing."

Jellal nodded, backing her up. "Now, Darque. Will you..."

Mist swirled out of Lucy's key pouch, taking form into a human. Darque nodded, all the mischievousness gone. She looked at Rogue, Midnight and Cobra. "I do not know how much you have heard from Jellal, but I will start from the beginning."

* * *

**Don't forget to Review and tell what you think~ X3  
**

**Are the characters OOC?**

**The votes for pairings are still ongoing. Vote at the poll on my profile, PM me, or just post as a review.**

**Pairings so far:**

**Jellal x Lucy: 42**

**Midnight x Lucy: 31**

**Cobra x Lucy: 33**

**Laxus x Lucy: 18**

**Rogue x Lucy: 15**

**Sting x Lucy: 7**

**Natsu x Lucy: 5**

**Gajeel x Lucy: 5**

**Ideas and suggestions are welcome.**


	10. Chapter 9: The story of the Wish cycle

**I just noticed that the timing of this story doesn't really fit in with the manga or the anime, so lets just say this story is set somewhere...**

**After**

**-Jellal and Merdy are the only people in Crime Sorcière and Lucy meets Rogue {Does that make it after the GMG and the dragons invasion thingy?}**

**Before**

**-The council members are killed {So, before the Tartarus arc}**

**Sorry, I don't really know**

_**Chapter NINE**_

"I am Darque di Daemon, the gate of the Devil and one of the two keys of Afterlife. The other is Lite di Angelo, the gate of the Angel. Even I do not know the beginning of our existence. All I know is that ever since the beginning, we have been forced into a cycle, where the winner can have one wish granted, no matter how big it is."

"My magic is known as Hell magic, and I can control black elements from hell, like water and fire. However, if I need to fight full power, I can unseal my true magic, Cursed Darkness magic. With this magic, I have control over all Elemental energy. Lite's magic is Heaven magic. He can control the movement of objects. His true magic is Holy Light magic, which gives him control over all Kinetic energy."

"Since we are considered Celestial Spirits, we can make contracts with human mages and we can ask for their assistance in what I have come to call the 'Wish cycle'. However, as you probably know, we can contract with two different people."

"The two owners we chose are called 'candidates' and both Lite and I can tell when the other chooses a candidate. We are both dropped in a random location somewhere on the Human world. We are forbidden to engage in conflict of any sort until our candidates have been decided and the binding ritual is held."

"We split the world of mages into four types. Lite, mages who use magic related to Light, like fire magic and lightning magic. Darque, magic which is related to Dark, like shadow magic and poison magic. The mixture of both, which is the Shade type. People who are considered Shade type usually use magi related to the stars, like Celestial magic and Heavenly body magic. And there are the mages who aren't deemed powerful enough to form contracts with us, which we refer to as the monochromes."

"Us spirits are also allowed to ask for help from other mages with the same type as us. In case you have not noticed yet, all of you are Darque, or at least part Darque type mages. Since I am Darque, I can only recruit Darque type mages. Once you accept the recruitment process, you can recruit others with my permission. Darque type mages can only invite other Darque mages as well. However, Shade type mages can recruit both Lite and Darque. This is why we both always make sure our candidates are Shades."

"The reason we are both still alive is that there is a ritual that I can perform during the full moon, which restarts the cycle. The ritual forcibly drags me and Lite back to...where ever we came from before we are dropped into the Human world. There, we are put to sleep, only to wake up in a five hundred years time. However, the ritual needs a sacrifice. The more times I perform the ritual, the bigger the sacrificial demand becomes. I have performed it so many times, up to the point the sacrifice requires murdering people."

* * *

Darque glanced around the room, meeting everyone's eyes. "And in order to end this, I need to face Lite and win. This is where I would like your help." She closed her eyes. "But first, do any of you have questions?"

Lucy slowly raised her hand, her plate of food already forgotten. "You said recruit people. To do that, do we just bring people to you and you just tell us yes or no?"

Darque shook her head. "There's a ritual for that, which I shall explain later in more detail. It is nothing complicated."

Lucy nodded thoughtfully.

Cobra and Midnight glanced at each other. Cobra faintly nodded, then turned back to the spirit. "If we say no, what happens?" He stuffed another mouthful of food into his mouth.

Darque smiled. "This is entirely up to you, so if you say no, I shall let you go. I will not send you back to the prison and I will not report you. However, all your memories on meeting me will vanish, along with the knowledge about everything I have talked about previously, as well as the involvement of Jellal and Lucy."

Cobra nodded, as he had already expected that. "Another thing. If we decide to help you, what do we get out of it?"

"Even if we win, the 'grant one wish' rule only applies to Jellal, Lucy and me. In exchange for your help, I can grantee you my protection, from your enemies as well as the Magic council. I can give you a place to stay without the risk of being found. If there is anything you need, I will have it prepared, one way or the other. As for the wish, if you have one, I can wish for your wish to be granted." Darque grinned the most sadistic grin Lucy had ever seen. Her eyes widened, her pupil becoming slits. "I can offer you a life time of fun."

Cobra smirked. "I like the sound of that." He turned to Midnight. "We'll need some time to discuss this."

Darque nodded. "I understand." She glanced at Rogue, who hadn't said a word yet.

"Rogue?" She asked. "How about you?"

Rogue sighed, a tiny frown making its way onto his face. "Jellal has told us that he has left his independent guild due to the chance of involving and endangering his guild mate." He said. "I am not very happy with the way Sabertooth is running, but I don't like the idea of leaving Frosch."

"If you are willing to lend me your help, Frosch is welcome as well. So is Sting Eucliffe and his exceed, though you will have to ask Lucy or Jellal to recruit him." Darque said.

Rogue nodded, looking satisfied. Well, as satisfied as Rogue can look. "I would like to talk to Sting about this."

Darque nodded in understanding. "Of course." She pulled out a scroll form her cloak. "These are the names of the people which I have considered." She handed it to Lucy, who read it out loud.

"Guild, Fairy Tail. Lite, Natsu Dragneel, Laxus Dreyar, Wendy Marvel. Darque, maybe Gajeel Redfox. Shade, Lucy Heartfillia. Guild, Crime Sorcière. Lite, none. Darque, none. Shade, Jellal Fernandez. Guild, Sabertooth. Lite, Sting Eucliffe. Darque, Rogue Cheny. Shade, Yukino Aguria. Guild, Blue Pegasus. None, none, none. Guild, Lamia Scale. None, none, none. Guild, Mermaid Heel. None, none, none..." It's a list of people from different guilds.

Darque nodded. "I need to add a few more people." She said, and waved her hand. The words on the scroll swirled, and the name 'Gray Fullbuster' appeared right after Wendy's. She took the scroll when Lucy handed it back to her.

"Though it may be risky, you can find me with whether Jellal or Lucy." She smiled. "That reminds me. The recruiting ritual, also known as a binding ceremony, is a ritual where one has to swear their loyalty to one another. Either Lucy or Jellal must cut the recruitee, just enough to draw a little blood. All there is left is for me to drink it. Just a drop and you become one of us."

"Us?" Lucy asked.

Darque nodded. "I know this decision will most likely force you to leave your guild, and I am very sorry about that. I just though that maybe we could create our own guild. I know it wouldn't be enough to replace your guilds or anything, but just so you can feel the support of your new team mates."

Midnight blinked. "We're wanted criminals that have just broken out of prison. The moment we join a guild, we're gonna get arrested again." He glanced pointedly at Cobra, then Jellal.

Darque sat on the ground in front of him. "As I said, if you agreed to lend me your help, I will prepare anything you want. If you want to join a guild if we make one, I will make sure you guys can. Maybe I should just go and murder the council members."

Midnight still looked unconvinced, but he managed a small smiled. "A proper legal guild...would be nice."

* * *

**I am aiming for 100 review with this chapter :D {Hopefully}**

**I still haven't chosen a prize, but there will {most likely} be one. You're gonna need a Fanfic account for this, so if the ****100th review is a guest, I will pick review ****10****1 as the winner **

**I WILL BE CLOSING THE POLL WHEN I POST CHAPTER TEN, WHICH MEANS THE RESULTS I POST ON CHAPTER TEN WILL BE THE FINAL RESULTS  
**

**Are the characters OOC? Don't forget to Review and tell what you think~ X3**

**The votes for pairings are still ongoing. Vote at the poll on my profile, PM me, or just post as a review.**

**Pairings so far:**

**Jellal x Lucy: 52**

**Cobra x Lucy: 38**

**Midnight x Lucy: 35**

**Laxus x Lucy: 19**

**Rogue x Lucy: 22**

**Sting x Lucy: 8**

**Natsu x Lucy: 5**

**Gajeel x Lucy: 5**

**Ideas and suggestions are welcome.**


	11. Chapter 10: Accepting friends

**Raven:****Hi, this is Raven. I run the account DarqueDeth4444 along with Darque. She's in charge of the story writing while I check the grammar and add in ideas.**

**I've been in the middle of a violin exam until a few days ago and now I'm back. I was glad to be greeted by the news of all the reviews, follows and the favorites. Darque seems to have improved her writing as well and I hope you continue to support this story.**

_**Darque: **__**This is the first two digit numbered chapter of 'Where Darkness led to the right path.' We would like to thank all those of you who had reviewed, followed and Favorited this story.**_

_**Poll has officially closed. The results are at the bottom. **_

**Now, on with the story.**

* * *

_**Chapter TEN**_

Lucy collected the empty plates and Virgo appeared wordlessly, taking them before bowing and once again returning to the Spirit world. Lucy went around, making sure all the entrances to her house were locked.

Jellal looked at Lucy. "If possible, I would like to stay here for now." He said.

Lucy smiled at him. "Of course! We'll just have to make sure no one from team Natsu finds out." Jellal nodded at her gratefully.

"We're staying as well." Cobra said.

Lucy looked at him like he had grown another head. "What?" She asked, wondering if she had heard him correctly.

"I said, Midnight and I will be staying here for the meantime." He spoke slowly, as if explaining something to a child.

Lucy glared at him. "Who said you could?"

Darque frowned. "Well, they do not have anywhere else to stay."

Lucy sighed. "Fine! Just make sure you don't make a mess of things."

Rogue stood up. "I will go back for now."

Darque nodded. "Though I think I can trust you, the moment I think you are using the information I gave you to your own convenience, I will be forced to erase your memories, as well as obliterate the people you have told."

"I understand." Rogue said.

Jellal slowly raised his hand. "I'm sort of staying with Fairy tail at the moment, and I'm planning to go on a mission or two, so..."

Darque nodded. "As long as I don't perform the binding ceremony, Lite cannot make any offensive moves until the full moon, which is in three weeks time. Once the full moon arrives, Lite will be free to attack me as well as the ones on my list of possible recruits."

Lucy gasped, but managed to hold in her surprise. "So, as long as we hold the ceremony before the full moon, Lite isn't free to kill anyone, right?" Darque nodded.

Rogue held up the communication Lacrima. "I will contact you with my answer as soon as possible." He nodded a farewell, then transformed into a shadow and left.

"Okay. Sleeping plans." Lucy said in a voice that made everyone look at her. "One of you can take the couch. Midnight, since you don't seem to mind the floor, you can stay there." -Midnight's glare directed towards her was ignored- "I'll give you guys blankets. I have a few extras, and one of you can sleep on the floor of my room." Lucy placed her hands onto her hips. "And, my bed is off limits to all of you."

Cobra smirked. "You sure about that?"

Lucy felt her face heat up. "Of course. The moment I find any of you on my bed, I will kick you out."

Midnight sighed, covering his ears. Lucy's voice was _very _loud. Cobra sat on the couch, claiming it as his.

Lucy turned to Jellal and he nodded. If Cobra and Midnight stayed in the living room, it would give them time to discuss everything. She led the way into her room and grabbed a few blankets. She passed them to Cobra, who had followed her.

"You guys take can shower in my bathroom." Lucy told him and Jellal. "As for clothes..." She wondered over to her closet and opened it. She reached in her arm and let out a gasp of triumph. She drew out her arm, grasping a few pairs of men trousers and a few shirts. "Here."

Cobra looked at her weirdly. "Uh, why do you have guy clothes?"

Lucy couldn't hold back a grin. "When Gray strips, he sometimes leaves his clothes behind." She summoned Virgo for the she-lost-counth time of the day and Virgo appeared holding towels.

"Thank you Virgo." She said to her spirit, who nodded, then disappeared. She passed the the towels to Cobra and Jellal. Jellal borrowed the bathroom first while Cobra carried the stuff to Midnight.

Once she was alone in her room, Lucy sat on her bed, thinking over the happenings of the last few days.

A few minutes later, Darque appeared through the door. She wordlessly sat on the floor by the foot of Lucy's bed.

* * *

"It would be very dangerous for us to stay at Lucy's place, as people may recognize the people who are not supposed to be here. So I think we should set up a place where we can all stay." She turned to look at Lucy and Jellal. "I would like to suggest the clearing you guys talked in earlier."

It was already well into the night. Everyone had already had their turn in the bathroom and Lucy was helping Jellal set up a sleeping area on the floor.

Jellal nodded thoughtfully and Lucy agreed that it was a good idea, as it was well hidden and sheltered. They could do something about sleeping later with Virgo's help.

Darque nodded. "Once we have heard the answers of the others, we'll do something about it."

"There is one thing I need you guys to think about. Are there any other people you think will be able to help us?" Darque asked. "While both Lite and I can sense each other's candidates, normal recuitees have less danger of being found."

Lucy remembered the list of people on Darque's list, then registered what Darque had said. "So they can stay in the guild." Lucy said. She waited for the suffocating pain she felt every time she thought about having to leave her guild, but it never came.

_You've already accepted Jellal, Cobra, Midnight and Rogue as your friends. _A part of her brain told her.

"I think you can convince Gajeel and maybe the same way you convinced Cobra, with the 'life time of fun' thing. Natsu might not be such a good idea, because I can easily imagine him running around, blurting every out to everyone." Lucy said quietly.

"I do not plan on involving them directly." Darque said. "Gather information as well as resources are the most things I ask for."

"So you won't involve anyone else into any of our fights against Lite?" Jellal asked.

Darque nodded. "Unless they ask to. I will not tell them the whole story."

"I'm going to have to tell master about this." Lucy said. "Not the whole story, but enough to make my quitting of the guild reasonable."

Darque nodded. "Tell him about the keys of Afterlife. He's a guild master, I'm sure he'll know."

Darque smiled. "I just can not thank you enough." She whispered. "I shall take my leave now." She quietly stood up and disappeared in the usual swirl of mist and smoke.

* * *

**Winner of the ****100th review thingy is...**

******xxxLucyxharemfanxxx**

**You're gonna have to give us some time to decide the prize, but we'll PM you then. :P**

**Final poll results:**

**First] Jellal x Lucy**

**Second] Cobra x Lucy**

**Third] Midnight x Lucy**

**Fourth] Rogue x Lucy**

**Fifth] Laxus x Lucy**

**Sixth] Sting x Lucy**

**Seventh] Gajeel x Lucy**

**Eighth] Natsu x Lucy**

**So, the main pairing of the fanfic is JELU! **

**BTW, do you think we should make Erza find out about Lucy and Jellal? How do you think we should make Erza react when she finds out? Tell us in a review~**

**Since we are planning to slowly develop this relationship, there will be hints of other pairings.**

**List of pairings {That have been decided so far}:**

**Jellal x Lucy**

**Gajeel x Levy**

**Natsu x Lisanna {Maybe. Not a big fan, so don't expect much}**

**{**_**I may add some Jellal x Erza and Kinana x Cobra moments****}**_


	12. Chapter 11: Wow, I'm legendary

_**Chapter ELEVEN**_

Jellal lay down on the floor, shuffling around, trying to get comfortable. "Do you think Darque can actually convince the Council to accept us into a guild?" He asked absentmindedly.

Lucy shrug, then realized Jellal probably couldn't see her. "Well, she said she would, and I trust my spirits."

"Yeah, I heard." Jellal said.

Lucy sighed. "This is so confusing!" She exclaimed. "At first, I didn't want to leave the guild at all! But when I met you guys today, it just seemed right and now I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

There was an awkward silence and when Jellal felt like he was going to suffocate on it, Lucy giggled.

"But I'm personally more worried about how Erza will act if she find out you're crashing at my place." She said.

Jellal paused, then felt his face slowly grow red. "Well, she doesn't have to know." He said nervously.

Lucy leaned over her bed and smiled at him. "Well, let's hope she doesn't find out, then. I still have a lot of things I wanna do in life."

Jellal nodded. "Yeah." He paused. "You know, I'm wondering if being picked by Darque to be a candidate is lucky or not."

Lucy frowned. "I don't know. If you think about it, in one way, I guess it is lucky if you look at Darque's strength in battle. Plus, I'm sure a lot of people would love the grand prize. Not lucky if you don't like getting meddled in complicated stuff." She sighed again. "If we did win this thing, what would you wish for?"

Jellal was taken aback by the question. "Well, I never actually thought about that." He said. "I'm not sure. What about you?"

"I'm not really sure either. Maybe something to do with my friends being able to live a happy life or something."

Jellal was slightly surprised, then remembered that it was _the_ Lucy Heartfillia he was talking to. It would have been way more surprising if she said something like eternal life, or a lifetime supply of money.

Jellal inwardly chuckled. "Well, let's go on a missions with team Natsu tomorrow, and we'll see what happens next."

Lucy hesitated. "Yeah, about that. I'm not sure if I'm a part of that team anymore." She added the last part in a whisper.

Jellal looked at her, surprised. "Huh?"

"Ever since Lisanna came back, team Natsu been going on missions without telling me and, I just..." She trailed off, looking away.

Jellal managed a stupid "Oh.", then quickly shook his head. "Well, I'll go on a mission with you." He said.

Lucy looked surprised. "What? You're supposed to go on one with Erza."

Jellal grinned. "Well, we're going to be fight together more often, so wouldn't it be better if we can learn to collaborate our magic?"

Lucy nodded over the edge of her bed. "I'll talk with master tomorrow." She looked at Jellal in the eye. "You'll come with me, right?"

Jellal nodded. "Yeah." He yawned. "Of course."

* * *

Cobra and Midnight were still grumbling about having to stay back at Lucy's apartment when she slammed the door in Cobra's complaining face. Jellal had headed out first, so they did not attract suspicion on having arrived together.

Darque was awfully quiet in Lucy's head, and Lucy was still deep in though on how she was going to break the news to Makarov when she reached the guild. She pushed the door open and was greeted with a chair in the face.

She glared in the direction which it had come from and sighed. Natsu and Gray had started the free-for-all brawl of the day. Rubbing her sore head, Lucy made her way to the bar, dodging thrown furniture and flying people.

She greeted Mira with a smile. "Hi Mira. Have you seen master?"

Mira looked at her worriedly. "Yeah. He's in his office. Why, is something wrong?"

Lucy shook her head reassuringly at her. "It's nothing. I just want to ask something."

Mira nodded, then moved away to collect other orders.

_'Good mooring, Lucy.'_

Lucy slightly jumped at Darque's voice. "Hi." She replied. "I'm going to talk to master now."

_'Okay. Should I call Jellal, or do you want master Makarov to call him?'_

"I'll get master to call him." Lucy said. "Just make sure you warn him."

_'Sure.'_

Lucy stood up from her chair, and made her way to Makarov's office. She knocked, then waited for some sort of response.

Lucy opened the door and stepped inside when a "Come in." Was heard.

Master was leaned over his desk, surrounded with paper. He looked up when Lucy stood in front of him. "Hello, my child. What can I do for you?"

Lucy smiled at him. "Can you please call Jellal here as well? This also involves him."

Makarov looked curiously at Lucy and nodded. "Mira, please send in Jellal."

A minute later, there was a knock and the door was pushed over. Jellal poked his head in then stepped into the room. He nodded at master an offered Lucy a small smile.

Makarov gestured for the two to sit in the chairs facing him. "Now..."

Lucy and Jellal glanced at each other. "Master, have you ever heard of the keys of Afterlife?" Lucy began.

Makarov frowned. "I have read about them, as there are some books about the two legendary keys and their cycle."

_'Wow, I'm legendary.'_

Lucy couldn't hold back a small laugh, not loud enough for Makarov to hear.

"What about them?" Makarov asked.

"First, would you please tell us how much you know about them?" Jellal asked.

Makarov closed his eyes. "Well, I know that there are two keys, one representing Heaven and the other representing Hell. How they've been enemies for as long as anyone can remember and that they are said to have been constantly fighting." Makarov paused. "Why the sudden question?"

"Have you ever seen the keys before?" Lucy asked, slightly shakign her head.

Makarov slowly nodded. "Well, the drawings in the books anyways."

Lucy took a deep breath. "Would you believe it if we told you that they were real?"

Makarov's eyes widened slightly. "Well..."

Lucy held up Darque's key. "This is one of the two keys." She blurted out.

Jellal quickly took over before Makarov could say anything. "It's true." He said, ten turned to Lucy. "Summon her."

Lucy nodded and waved the black key. "Open, gate of the Devil, Darque."

Darque appeared in a burst of black. She smiled at the two candidates then turned and bowed at Makarov. "Hello, I take you are Master Makarov Drayer?"

Makarov looked very surprised but managed a nod. "And you are...?"

Darque smiled. "I am Darque di Daemon, also commonly known as the spirit of the Devil, the key of Hell."

Makarov turned to Lucy. "This is..."

Lucy glanced at Jellal, then Darque, receiving nods from both of them. She opened her mouth and as if a dam had been broken, she began to talk. She told Makarov everything. How team Natsu had ignored her, how Darque's key had fallen from the sky, how she and Jellal had come to know each other. Everything.

Jellal and Darque pipped in once in a while, filling in the bits she had missed.

By the time she had finished, she was out of breath. Makarov was staring wide eyed at the three, too shocked to say anything.

Lucy took a gulp of air. "The main reason I came here was to tell you this. This is because I would like to leave the guild."

* * *

**Yay, new chapter!**

**Tell us how it was, read and review!**


	13. Chapter 12: Possible relationship

_**Chapter TWELVE**_

"W-what?" Makarov asked, wondering if he had heard her correctly.

"I would like to leave the guild." Lucy repeated, much quieter than before. "Because I don't want to drag anyone into this." She said firmly.

Makarov still stared at her, not saying anything.

"I would just like to go on one more mission." Lucy added.

Finally, Makarov seemed to come out of his frozen state and managed a shaky smile. "Of course. If this is your wish, I cannot stop you. However, you must never reveal sensitive information about Fairy Tail to others for as long as you live." He paused.

"You must never use former contacts met through your being in the guild for personal gain." He let out another shaky breath. "Though our paths may have diverged, you must continue to live out your life with all your might, you must never consider your own life to be something insignificant, and you must never forget about your friends for as long as you live."

Lucy smiled. "After I finish my mission, I'll come see you again."

Makarov nodded, then turned to Jellal. "Make sure you disguise yourself." Jellal nodded.

Lucy smiled, then turned to leave the room. Darque opened the door for her and Lucy stepped out, Jellal a step behind her. Darque turned to Makarov and dipped her head, then turned and followed her contractors, closing the door behind her.

* * *

"No." Lucy said firmly, folding her arms over her chest. "We are _not _going to any sort of monster fighting missions."

Team Natsu was no where to be seen and the two candidates were currently standing in front of the mission board, arguing over which mission to take.

Jellal was holding up a very old, crumbled looking poster

Lucy yanked the missions paper out of Jellal's hands and quickly skimmed it. She then took it and waved it in his face.

**_Help us_**

**_An unknown monster is terrorizing our town._**

**_Reward: 4,000,000_**

"Read it Properly~" Lucy whined.

Jellal nodded. "Yes, I did. They are asking for help. So I though we should help them." Though he looked serious, Lucy could see the play of amusement and mischief in his eyes.

Lucy sighed. "I wont be any help." Lucy complained.

Darque appeared all of a sudden and flicked Lucy's forehead. "I can take on any monster." She said. Lucy sighed, then passed the mission back to Jellal.

Suddenly, a hand plopped down onto Lucy's shoulder and she jumped.

"Hi Lucy." Erza said, then turned to Jellal. "Hello Jellal. Did you find a mission you would like to go on?" She glanced at the mission in Jellal's hands.

Gray and Happy approached then, calling out a greeting. A few moments later, Natsu with a ever so clingy Lisanna reached them as well.

Lucy smiled sadly and moved away from the board, leaving team Natsu to their argument.

* * *

Jellal looked up from the the board and glanced around. Lucy was now sitting at the bar, talking to Mira. Darque was hovering over the bar, the bottom half of her body transformed into mist. So, she could turn into mist and float?

He glanced at Lucy again, then turned to look at team Natsu. True, team Natsu didn't even seen to acknowledge her.

Jellal glanced back at the missions Lucy had rejected. The pay was pretty good. Scratch that, the pay was really good, considering the fact that it wasn't a S-class mission. Lucy was now housing three people, four including herself. Jellal decided that they could use the money.

"Darque." He whispered, then glanced at the bar. Sure enough, the spirit was looking at him.

_'What?'_

"Wait. You can use telepathy even when you're not in the spirit world?" He asked, not noticing how his voice was now loud enough for the whole of team Natsu to hear.

_'Yeah. Well, this is my half mist state. By the way, team Natsu are looking at you weirdly.'_

Jellal looked around to notice she was right. He groaned, bringing his hand to his head. He could faintly hear Darque laughing in his head. He glanced at the mission again, then looked pointedly at the spirit.

Darque grinned, then turned to say something to Lucy. Lucy glanced at the spirit and nodded.

Her body began turning into mist, but didn't disappear like when she was returning to the spirit world. Instead, the blob of mist swirled into the air, then moved towards Jellal. She reformed halfway and now, she was floating above Jellal's head.

Jellal nodded at her, then held up the mission poster. "Convince Lucy." He said. When Darque glanced at him innocently, Jellal sighed. "This is an order at you're master."

Darque rolled her eyes. "Yes, Jellal-_sama._" She said, then flew back towards Lucy.

He turned back to team Natsu to notice their eyes on him. "What?"

"Um, master?" Gray asked.

_Oh, shit. _Jellal slowly nodded. He would have to choose his words carefully. "Yeah, I've contracted with her as well."

"And the mission paper?" Erza asked. "Why bring it to Lucy?"

Jellal looked at her, faking surprise. "Isn't she part of team Natsu as well?"

Erza stared at him. "Well, that missions is way too difficult for her." She said. "So..." She trailed off, looking slightly guilty.

Jellal glanced pointedly at Natsu. "Lucy beat Natsu." He pointed out.

Lisanna shook her head. "No, her spirit beat Natsu." She glanced at said dragon slayer. "Now, lets go on that mission. I'll go get it from Lucy." She let go of Natsu's arm to talk to Lucy, but Darque suddenly appeared in front of her, scaring Lisanna with her sudden appearance.

"Lucy said yes." She said. Jellal nodded, then turned to team Natsu. "Sorry, I'm going on this on with Lucy." He said. He smiled at the spirit then made his way over to Lucy, ignoring the shocked looks team Natsu were sending him.

* * *

Lucy smiled at Jellal when he sat next to her. "For a moment, I actually thought you were going to ditch me and go with team Natsu."

Jellal grinned back at her. "I'm not that cold hearted." He scoffed. "I promised you, didn't I?"

Lucy shrug. "I don't remember you promising. You just said you might come with me." She glanced at team Natsu out of the corner of her eye. They were still staring at Jellal in shock, though they seemed to have calmed down a bit.

Lucy picked up the mission paper and glanced at it. 'Croft town. West from Magnolia, five hours by train'. She nodded to herself and handed it to Mira, who quickly accepted it for them.

Lucy jumped to her feet, grabbed Jellal's wrist, sent Darque a glance, and dashed out of the guild before Mira could comment on their possible relationship.

* * *

**Sorry for the day late update for the previous chapter. In case you guys haven't noticed, we are (trying to) update once every three days. **

_**Blame Raven. He was in charge of posting the chapters. He called me and was like, 'Sorry, I have a test to study for, so I can't post the chapter', or some other shit the day after we were supposed to post this chapter.**_

_**Guess what? I'm in a really bad mood so I'll tell you. Raven had white hair. And I have no friggin clue why his account name is 'Raven' when not an ounce of Raven can be seen on his being.**_

_**Anyways, thanks for the reviews, follows and favorites. **_

_**Review and tell me what you think.**_


	14. Chapter 13: Monster mission

_**Hi guys! Just a quick question. When Jellal uses Meteor, can he do it while carrying a person?**_

_**Chapter THIRTEEN**_

Lucy dumped her bags onto a seat, then threw herself onto a open seat headed for Croft town. Jellal took a seat opposite her, placing his bags beside hers. The two were now headed to Croft town to accept the mission. They had gone back to Lucy's apartment earlier to pack their bags.

Jellal was wearing his Mystogan disguise, and Lucy was still trying to remind herself to call the man Mystogan.

Darque had gone back to the spirit world because if she had gone on with them, they would have had to pay for her tickets as well.

"We have eight hours." Lucy groaned. She yawned. "I'm going to sleep. Wake me when we get there." She said.

Jellal nodded at her in amusement. "Sure. Can I see the mission paper?"

Lucy sat up, then leaned against the armrest. "Oh yeah. I think I'll check it out before I sleep." She handed the mission poster to Jellal.

The train began moving and Jellal tugged at the cloth covering his face, lowering it to around his neck.

"Uh, the jobs is to defeat some demons monster-ish thing that are terrorizing the people of Croft town. The reward is 4,000,000 jewels." Jellal said. "Um, the request was issued by the mayor of Croft town, Desmond Croft. Says we're to see him if we want more information..." He paused. "Lucy, are you listening?"

When he heard no response, he looked up. Lucy was leaned against the window, sound asleep. Jellal smiled. She looked really peaceful, the sun light shining onto her blond hair, making it glow.

He sighed, then tucked the mission poster into one of his pockets.

* * *

Lucy woke to someone shaking her shoulder. She ignored it and after a while, who ever it was stopped annoying her.

Suddenly, someone began poking her cheek. Lucy groaned, and slowly opened her eyes to meet Jellal's brown eyes. They stared at each other, Jellal's finger still touching Lucy's cheek.

Lucy felt her face begin to heat up and she leaped backwards. At the exactly same moment, Jellal jerked his finger back towards himself and the two stared at each other, then averted their gazes, red with embarrassment.

"We have to get off soon." Jellal muttered, not looking at Lucy.

Lucy nodded. "Y-yeah." She replied. She noticed that Jellal had already gathered their bags together and she gratefully took her bags from him. The town was flanked by a forest on one side, while the other side was full of houses and shops.

Lucy and Jellal went around asking for direction to the Mayor's house. Lucy approached an elderly woman running a flower shop.

"Excuse. Would you please tell us the way to the mayor's house?" Lucy asked.

The woman looked up and smiled. "Of course." She said, then pointed down the street. "Just take this street down to town center. You can't miss it. Once you get there, take the first turn right and go up the hill. The mayor's house isn't grand or anything, looks like any other house in Croft."

The woman glanced at Lucy up and down. "Tell me sweetie, why are you looking for the mayor?"

Lucy smiled. "We're here to talk about the mission."

On cue, Jellal stepped up behind her and held up the mission poster. The woman's eyes widened. "The monster mission?"

Lucy nodded.

The woman's smile widened. "Oh my. Thank you so much!"

The woman's loud voice was beginning to attract the other towns people. Soon, a crowd had formed around the mages.

"These mages are going to get rid of the monster for us!" The woman yelled into her store, and two other people rushed out.

Lucy glanced around the town people and noticed how happy they looked. "The monster must have been terrorizing these people for a long time." She murmured sadly to Jellal.

Jellal nodded. "Well, we're going to get rid of it."

The crowd began nudging the two mages towards the mayor's house. A small girl grabbed Lucy's hand, her eyes shining as she looked up.

"My daddy was killed when the monster attacked for the first time." The girl said. "When I grow up, I want to become a mage, so that I can help people too."

Lucy smiled at the girl and nodded encouragingly. "Then I can have lots of adventures and make all kinds of friends." The girl continued.

Soon, a small, but comfortable looking house came into view. The villagers stopped at the garden gate, then ushered the mages towards the house.

Jellal knocked, and a woman opened the door. "Hello, what can I do for you?" She asked.

Jellal held up the mission poster. "We're here to accept the mission." He said.

The woman's eyes widened. "Dear!" She called into the house. She turned to the mages and nodded at them. "Please stay here for a moment." The woman rushed into her house.

* * *

The woman, who had introduced herself to be Marianne Croft, Desmond Croft's wife, had led Lucy and Jellal into the mayor's office.

A man, probably in his mid forties, greeted them. "Hello, are you the mages who have accepted our request."

Jellal nodded. The mayor gestured for them to sit on the chairs, and he sat opposite them. "As you most likely know, I am Desmond Croft, the mayor of Croft town."

"I am Lucy Heartfillia and this is Mystogan." Lucy said. "We're from Fairy tail."

The mayor nodded happily. "I will tell you everything I know."

"The monster began appearing around half a year ago. It only appears on night with out a moon, so no one knows exactly what it looks like." He said. "It around the size of a small house and as far as I could see, there was only one. It walked on four legs."

Marianne walked up to the mayor's desk and handed him a file. The mayor took it and absentmindedly looked through it. "Um, reports say that people have saw it use some sort of magic." He looked at them apologetically. "Sorry, that's all we've got. People who have gotten close enough to the monster have all been killed."

Lucy nodded thoughtfully. "Only during moonless nights, huh?" She sat there, thoughts running around her head.

* * *

**And, chapter thirteen is done.**

**Raven: Okay guys, how was that?**

_**Darque: Yay {Insert Sarcastic tone here}. He's back. **_

**Raven: Well, _sorry. I had a test-_**

_**Darque: Yeah, which you failed horribly. What was you're mark again? Thirteen out of a Hundred?**_

**Don't forget. Read and Review!**


	15. Chapter 14: Meteor VS Black carpet

_**Chapter FOURTEEN**_

"Ready?" Darque asked. Lucy nodded, and closed her eyes as the spirit placed her hands onto her head.

Darque took a deep breath and Lucy felt the sudden tug she had felt when Darque had downloaded the battle mode summoning words into her head. Images, words and graphs flooded through her brain and to Lucy's amazement, she could understand them.

She felt Darque's hands leave her head and the rush stopped, leaving her breathless.

Lucy narrowed her eyes and concentrated. The air in front of her blurred and Happy appeared. Lucy smiled in sanctification, but the moment she lost concentration, the image blurred and disappeared.

"That was good for you're first time." Darque encouraged. She smiled. "The keys of Afterlife can bestow their contractors with a few different types of magic. Illusion magic it one of the basics. I can also teach you teleport, telekinesis, and a few others. However, I think you have potential, so you can skip those can go straight to the most powerful, which includes the ones I have mentioned before. I have ever taught someone this type of magic, but I think you can manage it."

When Lucy looked at the spirit curiously, Darque giggled. "It's a secret." Mist surrounded her and she flew over to Jellal to help him with his illusions.

* * *

Lucy peaked out from where she was hiding, in the shadow of a destroyed house. Jellal was crouched beside her. He had his mask down as it was already night and he didn't have to worry about any of the villagers recognizing him. Even if they knew who 'Jellal' was, the villagers were too scared to leave their houses during a moonless night.

This was their second night in the village. Yesterday, the moon had been shining brightly and just as the mayor had said, the monster did not appear. However, today, clouds covered the moon, and Lucy had to squint to see the trees.

"We're not going to engage it here. It's too dangerous, as it can harm the village. Instead, we'll follow the monster once it appears to wherever it goes." Lucy paused. "We're going to have to find out what type of magic it uses so we can attack it effectively."

Jellal nodded. "Try not to destroy anything. Once we find out where the monster stays during the day, we'll scout the area and find an effective way to deal with it."

Lucy suddenly giggled. "If this were team Natsu, everyone would have stormed in to fight the monster."

Jellal thought for a moment, then nodded in amusement. "Yeah. And destroy the forest and town in the process."

* * *

It was around midnight when Jellal saw a flash of movement inside the forest. He nudged Lucy and narrowed his eyes. Due to the faint light, he couldn't make out any of its features. However, a few things were certain. It was nowhere near the size of a house, and it was walking on two feet.

The 'monster' staggered over to a patch of moon light and Jellal's eyes widened. The 'monster', as far as he could see, definitely didn't look like a monster. It, no, _he_ had brown hair and hazel eyes. He didn't look any older that Wendy.

Jellal glanced at Lucy, and noticed her slap her hand over her mouth. Jellal turned back to look at the boy, and just about managed to hold back the gasp that would have exposed their hiding place.

The boy had collapsed onto the floor, now crouched on his knees. As Jellal watched, an eerie light surrounded the boy, glowing so bright that Jellal had to look away. When he looked up again, there was no boy. In his place stood a furry creature. This monster was the size of a small house. Jellal wondered why the mayor hadn't told them about the boy, then decided that maybe, he didn't know about him.

* * *

Jellal glanced Lucy and pointed towards the boy-now-turned-monster. For the past hour, he had run around, destroying the already damaged buildings. his movement was now coming to a stop, and he started lumbering back into the trees. "I think it's going back now."

Lucy nodded. "Okay." She whispered.

Lucy wordlessly held out Darque's key. "I, Lucy Heartfilla, call upon the gate of the Underworld to summon the afterlife. Open, the Gate of Hell, Darque di Daemon!"

Darque appeared in a puff of mist and smoke. Jellal was hit with the smell of blood before it vanished so quickly Jellal wondered if it was his imagination. He glanced at Darque. Yep, her dress was still splattered in the blood like substance.

The spirit crouched, and Lucy nodded. "Okay. You guys remember the plan, right?" Jellal and Darque nodded.

Darque transformed into her half mist state, then floated into the air. She suddenly blurred, and Jellal caught sight of her floating just in front of the entrance to the forest. She blurred again Jellal lost sight of the spirit.

* * *

A good ten minutes later, Darque suddenly appeared in front of them, mist swirling around her body. "I got it." She said. "There is a cave in this clearing deep in the forest, and that is where the monster boy is." She said.

Jellal pulled out the map the mayor had given them. Darque took it from him and touched one of the red splatters on her dress. Using her finger, she marked a small clearing with an X.

Jellal nodded. "Okay." He glanced at Darque. "The thing you do with the mist, where you sort of teleport. What is that?"

Darque smiled. "I don't really have names for it, but when I need to, I refer to it as black carpet." She said. "I'm not teleporting." She grinned. "I'm just moving super _duper_ fast!" She flung her arms into the air, as if to emphasize her point.

Jellal smiled. "Can you keep up with the speed of a meteor?"

Darque smirked. "Is that a challenge?" She demanded.

Jellal smirked back. He turned to Lucy and offered her his hand. "Here."

Lucy looked confused, but took his hand. Jellal smiled, then dragged Lucy down with him as he crouched. He wrapped one arm around Lucy's waist placed the other on the ground. A magic circle appeared by his feet.

"Ready?" He asked.

Darque folded her arms. "Any time."

It took a heartbeat for Lucy to realize what was going on, and it that heartbeat, Jellal and Darque were dashing full speed into the forest, Jellal using Meteor and Darque using black carpet.

A second later, they were flying through the forest.

* * *

**Here's the new chapter~ **

**Sorry if it has a few errors. It was sort of rushed.**

**Did the characters seem OOC? **

**Oh, and just in case, if Jellal can't use Meteor while carrying someone, just pretend that he can, because we didn't know if he could or not.**

**Read and Review.**

**Raven: I actually nearly forgot about the new chapter. However, I remembered in the last second. :P  
**

_**Darque: Good thing you did.**_

**Raven: Why do always have to criticize my bad points? Why can't you praise me for what I do correctly. **

_**Darque: That's cause there aren't many good points I can praise.**_

**Raven:... By the way, I read you're PM with a fellow fanfiction author. Why is it that I'm written in such a bad light? And I got a fourteen, not a thirteen. Plus, I was away for a few weeks and now the main antagonist of the story is based on me?**

_**Darque: That's none of you're business. It's between two people who understand the difference between normal people and weird people. **__**XD {Maybe not, but, oh well.}**_

**Raven: Some times, I wish you weren't in some other country. If you weren't, I would have murdered you in your sleep by now.**

**By the way, do you know how had it is two write this author argument thingy at the end? We have to wait for the other to write a line before going onto the doc and adding our own. **

**See you next chapter~**


	16. Chapter 15: Long time no see

_**Chapter FIFTEEN**_

Lucy clamped one hand over her mouth and closed her eyes tightly. The trees were flashing past her face and it took everything in her not to throw up. Jellal, on the other hand, seemed to be having a time of his life.

Lucy couldn't see Darque anywhere but she knew the spirit was somewhere close by.

Jellal nimbly weaved through between the trees and Lucy used her free hand to cling onto his cloak for dear life.

Soon, Lucy began to notice Jellal slowing down. He came to a slow stop at the base of a huge tree. He released Lucy placed a finger to his lips, still grinning like crazy.

Darque was standing behind him. She tapped Jellal and mouth 'I win.'

Jellal snorted. "If I had gone any faster, Lucy would have thrown up her dinner." He whispered.

Lucy gently smacked him. "I heard that."

Jellal grinned at her, then jerked his finger around the side of the tree. Lucy leaned over him and peeked through the leaves. The furry creature was curled up at the foot of another tree. It's tail looked like a scorpions, the spike at the tip looking poisoned and deadly. It's breath rustled the fallen leaves littered on the ground around it and Lucy could faintly see that it released a faint puff of purple with each breath. "Poison." She whispered.

"The boy from before." Lucy said. "I wonder who that was."

"I think the boy transformed into the monster." Darque replied. "This monster somewhat looks like a manticore."

Jellal frowned. "Manticore?"

Lucy nodded. "Mythological creature. Poisonous, spiky tail, may or may not have wings. Shoots poison spikes." She said. "But I don't know about boys transforming into them."

Lucy frowned thoughtfully. "I think we can use the trees around the clearing to dodge whatever attack it has." Lucy suggested

"I'll attack it." Jellal said. "You backup."

Lucy hesitated, but nodded. "Okay."

Jellal nodded. "Be careful and try not to get hurt."

Darque hovered over to float by Lucy.

Lucy nodded, then playfully held out her hand, palm facing the ground. Jellal smiled and shook his head before placing his hand on top of her's. Darque placed her's on top. "Let's do this!"

* * *

Lucy attached her magic strings to Darque, as Jellal had managed to convince her that he could fend for himself with his own magic.

They were crouched downwind of the monster, so it couldn't smell them.

Jellal nodded at Lucy. Lucy flicked her fingers, forming a mental picture of Darque wielding black fire.

Darque flung the disk of fire towards the monster.

The fire hit the monster on its side and it woke with a deafening roar. It whipped its head around to face Lucy, Jellal and Darque.

"Split!" Jellal ordered, and he leaped to the left.

Lucy jumped to her right and ducked behind a tree. She held up her whip and peeked out from the side. She saw Jellal jump out of the way as the monster opened it's mouth and shot several spikes which were coated in purple towards Jellal.

Jellal jumped once again, the spikes lodging themselves onto the muddy ground where he had been standing a second ago. The ground began to steam, and the earth began to melt.

Lucy made a move to help but Jellal raised his hand, telling her to wait. The monster swung its tail and dug the tip into the ground. The earth shook for a moment, causing Jellal to lose his footing. He grunted in surprise and the raised its tail, ready to shoot more spikes.

Lucy reached into her pouch and yanked out a key. "Open the Gate of the Ram! Aries!" She said. There was a gold flash and Aries appeared, already knowing what to do. The manticore whipped its head around to look at her, momentarily distracted from Jellal.

Aries shot a wool wall in front of Jellal. The spikes were stopped by them, but the poison that had coated the spikes began melting the wool, and Aries quickly made the wool disappear, bringing the spikes with it. That gave Jellal the time to get back to his feet and duck behind a tree, out of the monster's eye range. He nodded at Lucy and mouthed 'thanks'. Lucy smiled back.

She thanked Aries and sent her back, then glanced at Darque, who was calmly standing beside her, waiting for orders from her master. "Help Jellal." She muttered.

Lucy remembered all the words that had swarmed her head when she had first summoned Darque's in her battle form. She didn't hesitate. "Darque, use Glacies Shards!" She ordered, hoping she had pronounced it right.

Darque nodded. During a fight, her contractor's word was law.

Darque raised her hand and summoned a small, black snow storm that danced around her palm. She clapped her hand together and the ice split into multiple spinning shards which surrounded Lucy and Darque. At Darque's silent command, the spheres flew forwards. The spinning movement of the ice shards drilled into the monster. A few seconds later, the shards of ice hardened against its skin, slowing down the monster's movements.

Jellal raised his hands and shot multiple beams towards the monster, which were somehow deflected. Jellal let out a faint 'tch'.

The monster roared again. It swung it's tail sideways and shot a volley of poison spikes towards Lucy. Lucy gasped and was about to raise her whip when Darque appeared in front of her. She raised her hand and a black light appeared, stopping the spikes and making them burst.

The monster opened it's mouth again, but it suddenly froze. Multiple marbles flew through the monster, cutting right through it and leaving a beam like trail behind it due to the speed. They flew towards Darque but a barrier appeared, causing the marbles to disintegrate.

Darque's eye widened. She beckoned urgently towards Jellal and stood in front of her contractors. A boy stepped out of the shadows, his white hair glowing in the moonlight. He held up a marble identical to the one that had killed the monster and threw it casually into the air before catching it.

He had glowing red eyes and was had very pale skin, easily rivaling Darque's. He was wearing a laced white shirt under a black jacket with short black trousers and black and white striped knee high socks. He was wearing a small top hat decorated with a red ribbon.

"Long time no see." The boy lifted his hat and licked his lips, a sadistic grin plastered onto his face.

* * *

**Hi guy, new chapter. We think most of you know who the newcomer is. Or do you?**

_**Darque: I have an complaint to make today.**_

**Raven: What?**

_**Darque: Will you stop reading porn and other rate M stories then favoriting them through my account? A few of my school friends were going through 'Darquedeth4444's list of favorite stories and asked me about it. It was SO EMBARRASSING.**_

**Raven:... Sorry...But...It's my account too...**

_**Darque: Arg!**_

**Read and Review!**


	17. Chapter 16: Lite Di Angelo

_**Chapter SIXTEEN**_

"Darque..." The boy purred. He moved with amazing speed and Lucy suddenly found him standing behind Darque. "I missed you..."

Darque stiffened. "Did you miss me?" The boy asked.

Darque bit her lip and didn't reply. The boy turned his gaze to the two present mages.

"You found you're contractors already?" He giggled.

Darque clenched her fists. "Why are you here? You know the rules."

The boy nodded. "Duh. I'm still looking for people worthy enough to serve me." He grinned, then brought his mouth to Darque's ear. "What kind of lies did you tell your candidates to get them to help you?"

Darque's eye narrowed. "I have told them the truth."

The boy looked surprised, then his face melted into a grin once again. "Oh, well, that's so like you."

"The boy. Was that you're doing?" Darque snarled.

"That depends. I was wondering when I'll get to meet you, then remember how kind hearted you had, and sort of set up the mission. I thought you'd hear rumors about the boy who transformed into a monster but apparently the monster was too strong and anyone who got close enough to see the boy transforming died. In the end, the village sent out mission requests to the guilds as well." He boy smiled. "It worked out either way."

Darque frowned. "How did you know where I was?" She asked.

The boy shrug. "In case you haven't noticed, you always..._regenerate_...in Fiore. I always find myself in Sin." The boy laughed. "It's ironic, isn't it. Fiore, or flower is where the Devil appears while the Angel appears in Sin."

"In your current form, you can only control the movement of objects. Even using Holy Light, you can only control Kinetic Energy." Darque said. "How did the boy-"

"Transform into a monster?" The boy interrupted. "You know that when take-over mage's lose control of whatever they took over? That-"

Darque snarled. "I meant, how did you get the boy to take-over that...thing."

"Interrupting someone while they are saying something is not nice." The boy shook his head. "Manticore is correct." He said.

"You were watching us?" Darque asked.

Lite grinned. "As you know, though the keys of Afterlife can teach their candidates magic, like illusion and telekinesis, we can't use them ourselves. The limit of teaching the magic is two people. However, once the person you taught dies before you perform the binding ceremony..." He winked. "Get it?"

"Since manticores are not found around here, you taught, no, forced someone's brain to learn the process of teleport magic, and forced them to teleport yourself and a manticore here. You found a boy who you thought could learn take-over magic and teleported him here, where the boy unknowingly used take-over magic to protect himself from the manticore. However, he was not strong enough to control it." Darque said. "You then killed of the teleporter, so you can still teach two people."

The boy nodded in approval. "Yup, something along those lines. Smart as always."

Darque growled. "You killed an innocent boy just so you could find me?"

The boy shrug dismissively. "The boy was just an lucky catch that I came across. If this one didn't work, I would have done more damage elsewhere, until you showed yourself." He smiled. "You should be glad that this one was my first try."

He released Darque and turned to stand in front of Lucy and Jellal. "They are you're candidates, right?" He asked. "You didn't do the binding ceremony yet?" Darque didn't reply.

Lucy looked at him warily and Jellal took a step forward so he was standing in front of her.

The boy smiled. "I'm sure you've already heard of me, but I am Lite di Angelo." The boy, Lite bowed. "In my current form, I can manipulate the movement of objects." He giggled. "But when I have to face Darque in battle, I can control all Kinetic energy."

He blinked innocently. "Tell me, miss." He said, looked at Lucy. "Which do you think is more powerful. Kinetic energy or Elemental energy?" Lucy blinked, and didn't reply.

When no one said anything, he looked up and grinned. "What worried I'll attack you?" When neither mages replied, Lite sighed. He reached into one of his pockets and brought out a marble. He threw it at Lucy, manipulating the kinetic energy so that it few triple the speed it should have. Lucy yelped and instinctively brought her arms up to protect herself.

At the last moment, a black energy shield appeared in front of Lucy and the marble exploded. Her legs gave way and she sat on the floor, breathing heavily. Jellal got onto his knees and gently patted her back while keeping an eye on Lite.

"See." Lite said. "I can't attack you until I find candidates and we all do the binding ceremony." He yawned. "Or until full moon comes."

His sadistic smile returned and he turned to walk back to Darque. "You can't perform the restarting ritual thingy anymore, right? The sacrifice is too big."

He gently wrapped his arms around Darque again. He slowly opened his mouth and bared his teeth against Darque's neck. He suddenly recoiled as the black light appeared. "It's such a pity that even biting you is considered an attack."

Lite tapped his chin, then looked at Lucy again. "When I win, I'm going to revive Darque and make her to stay with me forever. She's gonna be mine and only mine. Her magic strings are only mine to control. She's gonna only ever look t me and I'll make her beautiful for the world to see. It's eternal love. Isn't it romantic?" He folded his arms. "You're a girl, right? Don't you read romantic novels?"

Lucy noticed the way Darque stiffened in Lite's hold. Lite seemed to notice as well, because he smirked into the crook of Darque's neck. His tongue flicked out and Darque tried to dig her elbow into Lite's stomach, but a white light deflected it. Darque jerked her arm back and the momentum sent her tumbling forwards, out of Lite's grasp.

Lucy remembered the magic strings and instinctively tugged them. Darque flew towards her and Jellal, landing neatly onto her feet. Lucy caught the spirit mouth 'thank you' and nodded, still eyeing Lite.

Lite pouted. "It's not nice to interrupt people when they're enjoying their reunion."

Jellal scoffed. "I don't think Darque was enjoying anything." He said.

Lite reached towards Darque who visibly flinched. Lucy quickly touched her key. "Return." She said, and Darque burst into smoke, returning to the key.

"Aw man." Lite whined. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket watch. "Oh, look at the time." He said. "I have to go." He spun on his heels and began walking back to where he had first appeared from. "I'll see you guys soon." He raised his foot and disappeared, leaving behind only rustling leaves as proof that he had ever been there.

* * *

**Hello people, here's the new chapter. Sorry if there are any mistakes, this chapter was sort of rushed. Tell us about any errors and we'll fix it.**

_**Darque: Hey, since when did you get so, I dunno. 'It's eternal love'.**_

**Raven: ... It was you who left me with writing that bit!**

**{XD}**

**This is just a summary of the keys of Afterlife for Akawaka {Guest} and others who might be confused.**

**{XD}**

**Darque di Daemon: Key of the Devil of Hell**

**Magic: He****ll magic; the black elements.**

**Full power: Cursed Darkness magic; manipulate Elemental energy**

**Appearance:**

**Normal: Pale skin and ice blue eyes. Wears a goth lolita dress, a white laced blouse under a black dress. ****Has a star tattoo right below her right eye. ****Wears black knee high socks and platform lolita boots.**

**Battle mode: Same clothes, just has blood splatters all over it. Pale skin and eye has yin yang patter on it, blood red and ice blue instead of black and white. Wears a black eye patch over left eye.**

**{XD}**

**Lite di Angelo: Key of the Angel of Heaven.**

**Magic: ****Heaven magic; movement of any objects.**

**Full power: Holy Light magic; manipulate Kinetic energy {Movement}**

**Appearance:**

**Normal: Wears a laced white shirt under a black jacket with short black trousers. ****Black and white striped knee high socks and lolita platform shoes. ****Wears a small top hat decorated with a red ribbon.**

**Battle mode: ****Same clothes, just has blood splatters all over it. Pale skin and eye has yin yang patter on it, sunset orange and lime green instead of black and white. Wears a white eye patch over right eye.**


	18. Chapter 17: Recruitment

**Poll for deciding Lite's candidates are up. More info at the Authors Note at the end. **

_**Chapter SEVENTEEN**_

Lucy collapsed onto her knees. Beside her, Jellal sunk down onto the floor as well.

"Did that actually happen, or was I just hallucinating?" Jellal asked.

Lucy took a deep breath and gazed at Darque's key. "It was real." She said. "That was Lite."

A sudden thought hit her. "Wait." She said. "So, the monster was not a monster?" Jellal looked at her.

"Because Darque said that Lite teleported some sort of failed take-over mage to lure her out." Lucy said. "So, the monster was not a monster, but a boy who was forced to take-over a monster he had no way of controlling in an attempt to protect his life."

Jellal frowned. "Yeah..."

Lucy bit her lip. "We killed an innocent child." She placed her hands over her eyes. "We..."

Jellal reached out and touched her shoulder reassuringly. "I know, but more the reason to avenge him by beating Lite."

His mouth formed a straight line and he turned to Lucy. "We can't tell the village about this." He said. "To them, the mon-" He stopped. "To them, the _boy_ was a monster that had killed countless of their villagers."

Lucy nodded in agreement. "The boy, Lite, creeps me out." She said, then shot Jellal a glance. "We'll talk later." She jerked her head towards the key. Jellal nodded, getting her message. They had to discuss this somewhere out of Darque's earshot.

Jellal glanced at towards the sky. The sun was starting to rise, and though he couldn't see it yet due to the mountains, he knew it was already morning. "He knows who we are." He said. "We have two to three weeks until full moon and Lite is free to attack us."

Lucy gripped Darque's key harder. "We're going to have to go back and prepare." She took a deep breath and a look of fierce determination rushed over her face. "I'm going to train and protect those I hold dear." She smiled. "That includes you, Darque."

* * *

Lucy stepped out of the bathroom and Jellal stepped in. She heard the shower start to run and sighed. She started to pack her bags, and get ready for the night. Darque hadn't said anything to any of the, ever since they had met Lite and Lucy reminded herself that she needed to talk to Jellal.

When the two mages returned to town center, they were surprised to find out that the villagers were waiting for them anxiously. When Jellal told them the news of the monster, they broke into cheers. The mages received their rewards and had tried to retreat to their inn to rest.

Lucy didn't know when or how, by somehow, they had been convinced into staying until the next day, so that they could enjoy the town. The two mages had tried to decline, but after the whole town had swarmed them, they had finally given in.

Lucy couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed herself like that. Now, she and Jellal were packing their bags, ready to leave on the first train the next day. Lucy grasped Darque's key and murmured. "Jellal and I are going out to sort somethings out, okay?"

_'Sure.'_

Lucy nodded to herself and placed Darque's key onto the bedside table, then turned to Jellal. "Lets go." She said. Jellal nodded, then followed her out of the inn.

* * *

Lucy leaned over the edge of the small bridge that was built over a small river that ran through the town and stretched.

Jellal stood net to her. "So, what now?" He asked.

Lucy paused. "I'm still going to help Darque." She said. "She's my spirit, and my friend. I promised her my help and a Celestial mage never breaks her promise."

Jellal smiled and glanced at her knowingly. "I've heard."

The raising sun was still hidden behind the mountains, but there was enough light for Lucy to be able to see Jellal's face. Lucy met his smile with her own.

"Darque told me that the wish cycle can go on for a very long time." Jellal said. "She only ever got her first candidate two cycles ago. She hadn't actually told them about the cycle, and just drove them into thinking that Lite was an evil mage that wanted her key. She told me that the whole thing went on for over seven years before Darque decided that she didn't want to kill her candidates, who had shown her nothing but kindness, for something like this." He said.

"So she told us the truth this time, and gave us a chance to draw out if we wanted to." Jellal concluded.

Lucy nodded. "Lite hasn't found his candidates yet. Both he and Darque said that they can only attack the other when they both have found candidates, or after the full moon. I think that means that after the full moon, they can attack whether or not they have found candidates. That most likely means that Lite will find his candidates before the full moon, because if he doesn't, it will give him a disadvantage."

Jellal nodded. "We're going to have to tell Cobra and Midnight about this. Rogue and Sting as well, if they decide to help us." He said. "We'll have to tell master and leave Fairy tail. We'll leave the guild side of things to Darque, as she said to leave it to her."

Lucy made a sound of agreement. "I don't think we should recruit too many people, as it will bring more attention if many powerful mages quit their guilds all at once."

Jellal paused. "I have an feeling that Darque will want to keep this as unknown as possible, because from looking at her personality, she's the type that doesn't want to hurt people without a proper reason."

"We'll talk to master about this as soon as we get back, then discuss this with the others after we get Rogue's response." Lucy added.

When Jellal nodded in agreement, the two mages made their way back to the inn. Lucy fixed Darque's key to her key pouch then picked up her bags and followed Jellal as he made his way towards the train station. The villagers were waiting for them at the station, where the two mages received more words or gratitude.

Lucy leaned out of the train window and waved until the town was no longer visible, then turned and made herself comfortable on the train seat.

* * *

**Hi guys, sorry about the mistakes and errors, as this chapter was sort of rushed. **

**We put a poll up in order to decide Lite's candidates. **

**The options for now are:**

**OC**

**Angel (Escaped somehow. If chosen, will be explained)**

**Natsu (Some one suggested him, and we're actually considering it)**

**Yukino**

**_Please give us more ideas. We'll add it onto the list. Votes through PMs and Reviews are also accepted._**

**Thanks.**


	19. Chapter 18: Convincing the Council

_**Chapter EIGHTEEN**_

Lucy and Jellal's journey back to Lucy's apartment mostly went undisturbed. Since it was well into evening, there were many people and families walking around the stores, no exact destination in mind.

Lucy wondered if the streets were usually this crowded, or if something special was going on today. Beside her, Jellal was grumbling about the crowd and the heat. Lucy snickered. Of course, who wouldn't be hot with that ridiculous outfit? Since there were many people, no one seemed to notice Jellal.

They gently pushed through the crowd until Lucy lost count on the amount of times she had apologized.

_'Should I blast them out of the way?' _

Lucy sighed. "It's fine." She turned to Jellal as he squeezed out of the crowd. He placed his hands onto his knees and leaned over, catching his breath. She giggled and Jellal shot her a glare, though there was also amusement.

Once they left the market area, the crowds began to thin, and by the time they two mages had reached Strawberry street, barley any people were in sight. Lucy stepped up to her apartment door and unlocked it, hoping that it was still intact.

She pushed the door open and stepped into the living room, where Midnight was sleeping on the couch. Cobra was nowhere in sight. Lucy heard some footsteps and Cobra appeared from the kitchen. He glanced at Lucy, then at Jellal who had been standing behind her, then smirked.

"You're back." He said.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah." She stretched, then moved to her bedroom to dump her bags onto her bed. She stretched, not realizing how stiff her shouldered were until now. She turned to Jellal, who had placed his bags onto the floor.

"We need to go to the guild to report to Master." Lucy said.

Jellal nodded. "I'm going to use the bathroom first."

Lucy nodded and headed back to the living room as the bathroom door closed behind Jellal.

Midnight was sitting on the crouch, still looking half asleep. He glaced up at Lucy and offered her a small. "Hello."

Lucy smiled at him. "I left enough food in the fridge to last for a few days and there were a few canned food as well." Lucy said. "Was it enough?"

Cobra nodded. "Yeah. But we just around have enough for two people tonight, so someone'll have to go buy food."

Lucy was about to suggest that Cobra could go, until she remembered that he couldn't, as he was a wanted criminal. Lucy waited for Cobra to comment but remembered that Darque served as some sort of mind barrier.

Lucy sighed, and was surprised when a familiar black mist streamed out of her key pouch.

Darque stood there, not looking any better from when they had faced Lite. Her eyes were lifeless and what frightened Lucy the most was the way Darque glanced at her, as if she had forgotten who Lucy was for a moment.

"I need to go sort out the guild problem, and the wanted criminal problem. I suggest that you rest until tomorrow, because I will be back by then." She paused. "Ask Virgo to bring you food." The spirit clenched her fists. "By tomorrow, I will make sure you can walk freely on the streets." Her legs began to swirl with mist and soon, her whole body turned into mist. The mist flew to the door and slipped out through the gap at the bottom of the door.

Midnight blinked at the spot Darque had slipped out. "Did something happen?" He asked. Lucy looked at him. "She seemed...different."

Lucy tensed, wondering whether or not she should tell them about their encounter with Lite, then decided that she should, as they were on the same side.

On cue, Jellal came out, wearing a fresh set of clothes. He must have heard part of their conversation, because he joined them and nodded.

"During our mission, we met Lite." Jellal began.

Cobra raised an eyebrow.

"He..." Lucy trailed off. "Hang on." She hesitantly raised her hand and concentrated. She imagined Lite, and took a deep breath. The air in front of her swirled and shimmered. An perfect replica of Lite appeared.

Midnight yawned. "You know Illusion magic?" He asked.

Lucy opened her mouth to answer, but decided against it as she felt her concentration fading. Jellal answered in her place. He explained how Darque could teach her candidates a number of magic, and how Illusion magic was one of the basics.

Lucy released the illusion and like something had snapped, told Cobra and Midnight everything that had happened on the missions. The townspeople and the monster, then Lite plan to draw out Darque and his seeming addiction for her.

By the time she had finished, she was out of breath and she barley noticed that Jellal was filling in the tiny details she had missed, like how he had manipulated the kinetic energy of the marble to kill the boy.

Cobra looked uncharacteristically excited. "So we're up against this guy who can control kinetic energy." He said. "And since I can't read your minds, I'm guessing this Lite dude can also stop me from reading his candidates mind."

Midnight glanced at his hand. "I can reflect anything, as long as it's not anything living." He muttered, so quiet that Lucy just about managed to catch it.

"Anyways. Now, what we can do is wait for Rogue's response and Darque's news on whether or not she has managed to convince the council." Lucy said. "Tomorrow, we'll go talk to the Master after Darque has returned." Lucy paused, trying to remember anything she had left out. "I will call out Virgo and get her to make us dinner."

Jellal nodded. "I'm starving." He said. He turned to Cobra and asked him something about his magic which Lucy failed to catch. She smiled and made her way to the kitchen, where she summoned Virgo and told her about their dinner problem. Virgo nodded and poofed back tot he spirit world. She came back a few minutes later and set up the table in three seconds flat.

Lucy called out to the three mages in the living room and they appeared, Jellal and Cobra locked in some sort of debate. Midnight followed them in, grumbling about the noise.

They settled down and Lucy thanked Virgo before dismissing her. Cobra had already began eating. Midnight sighed, before he began eating. Jellal had started off by picking at his food, before biving in to the hunger.

Lucy smiled. She remembered the time where she had wondered if becoming friends with them was a right thing. She had been afraid of the feeling that told her that they were the people she belonged with. She decided that it didn't matter. Just because she was going to leave Fairy tail did not mean that she couldn't be friends with them.

* * *

**New chapter!**

**Don't forget to Review and tell us what you think~ XD**

**We put a poll up in order to decide Lite's candidates.**

**Poll results:**

**Angel 6**

**OC 4**

**Natsu 6**

**Yukino 4**

**Rustyrose 1**

**Rufus**

**Please give us more ideas. We'll add it onto the list. Votes through PMs and Reviews are also accepted.**

**Ideas and suggestions are welcome.**


	20. Chapter 19: Criminals off the hook

_**Chapter NINETEEN**_

When Lucy woke up the next day, Darque's key was back in her key pouch. She sat up on her bed and frowned. Why hadn't she felt anything?

_'Good morning.'_

Lucy smiled. "Good morning." She said. She glanced over the side of the bed and noticed that Jellal was still asleep. Lucy quietly stepped around him and out of her bed room.

It was still six in the morning and when she reached the living room, she noticed that both Cobra and Midnight were still asleep. Lucy decided to leave the remaining food for them, as both she and Jellal could eat at the guild.

"Darque?"

_'Yeah?'_

"What did the Council say?" Lucy asked. Darque let out a soft giggle.

_'You will find out at the guild.'_

Lucy smiled. "Okay." She entered the bathroom and changed, before shaking Jellal awake.

Jellal groaned and tried to draw the covers over his head. Lucy sighed, then yanked the blankets off him. Jellal gasped and he bolted up. He looked around for a moment before his gaze rested on Lucy. He offered her a sleepy smiled. "Hey."

Lucy grinned back. "Good morning." She left Jellal to change and reentered the living room. She wrote a quick note explaining their absence, then left it on the table for either Cobra or Midnight, whoever woke up first. She was checking her appearance one more time when Jellal appeared, wearing Mystogan's clothes.

She nodded at him then they stepped out of her apartment, locking the door behind her. She walked along the river, her arms stretched for balance. Jellal hovered beside her, ready to catch her should she fall. Lucy waved at the men on the boats, before jumping off and landing neatly onto the pavement.

They made their way to the guild in comfortable silence. They stepped through the guild door, greeted by various guild members.

Levy skipped over to Lucy, Gajeel a step behind her.

_'They're always together, aren't they?'_

Lucy giggled, but was interrupted by her friend.

"Hi Lu-chan!" Levy said, smiling. "How was your mission?"

Lucy smiled back. "Hi Levy-chan, hey Gajeel. It went really well and we got the full reward."

Gajeel grunted a greeting at the same time Levy let out a giggle. "By the way, did you hear about the Magic Council?" She asked as they made their way to the bar.

Lucy sat down next to her friend and greeted Mira, then glanced at her. "The Council?" She repeated. Jellal looked at Levy as well, curiosity in his eyes.

Levy nodded. "Apparently, just this morning, the Council announced that the criminals, Jellal Fernandez, as well as the former members of Oración Seis, Cobra and Midnight are now free of any previous charges of crime." She placed a finger on her chin. "I wonder what happened."

Lucy's eyes widened and she glanced at Jellal, who was smiling. Jellal met her gaze and Lucy smiled back.

_'See how awesome I am?'_

"Yeah." Lucy whispered. Until she found out how her spirit had convinced the council, she couldn't let anyone find out Darque was involved. After all, what she had done could be considered a crime.

Lucy ordered two sets of breakfast for her and Jellal.

Soon, Wendy and Carla joined them and Lucy began telling them about their mission. She had gotten to the part where they were waiting fot eh monster to come out when Gajeel's head suddenly shot up.

Lucy trailed off as Gajeel glanced at something over Lucy's shoulder. Lucy followed his gaze and caught sight of team Natsu (Plus Lisanna).

Team Natsu came over to them and Erza offered them a casual greeting, though she kept glancing at Jellal. "So, how was your mission?" Erza asked.

Jellal glanced at Lucy with a grin. "It was pretty good. We got the full reward and..." He trailed off and his eyes hardened. "And we learnt some new things."

Lisanna glanced between Jellal and Lucy, then shrug. "So, are you going to tell us what happened?"

Lucy sighed, then began retelling the story, skipping out the bits about Lite di Angelo and the monsters true identity.

Natsu scoffed. "I bet I could've beaten the monster with a single punch." He punched the air, concluding his point.

Lucy looked down. They shouldn't have defeated the monster, they should have saved him. Jellal's thoughts must have been going along the same line because he placed a hand comfortingly onto Lucy's shoulders, an action that didn't go missed by the people around them.

Before anyone could ask anything, Jellal turned to Levy. "About the council, does that mean Cobra, Midnight and I are no longer criminals?"

Levy nodded. Beside her, Erza sighed. "I do not understand why Cobra and Midnight are also free as well. I personally think they should stay in their cells and rot."

Lucy paused, then whipped her head around to face Jellal. "Wait, so they don't know..."

_'Yeah. They don't know. When I went to talk to the council today, they told me, or rather, they slipped that they haven't told the public about Cobra and Midnight's breaking out of prison. Don't say anything, as it is supposed to be confidential information.'_

Lucy nodded. No one seemed to have noticed her little slip, as they were arguing over why the council had let the former members of Oración Seis off the hook.

They were interrupted when Makarov came out of his office. "Ah, Lucy, Jellal. I see you guys are back."

Lucy shot Jellal a glance, then turned back to Makarov and gave his a very faint nod. "Yeah, we are."

Makarov smiled, then turned back to his office. "Jellal, Lucy, please come to office. I would like to talk to you."

Jellal and Lucy glanced at each other, then stood up to follow Makarov, ignoring everyone's gaze on them.

* * *

**Don't forget to Review and tell us what you think~ XD**

**We put a poll up in order to decide Lite's candidates.**

**Poll results:**

**Angel 11**

**Natsu 11**

**Rufus 10**

******Rustyrose 9**

**Yukino 4**

**OC 4**

**Please give us more ideas. We'll add it onto the list. Votes through PMs and Reviews are also accepted.**

**Ideas and suggestions are welcome.**


	21. Chapter 20: Never breaks her promise

**Announcement**** in BOLD LETTERS BELLOW.**

_**Chapter TWENTY**_

Lucy and Jellal took a seat opposite Makarov's desk and told his about their mission. After they had finished, Makarov sighed. "I guess you aren't going to change your mind." He said.

Lucy apologetically shook her head. "No. Sorry."

Makarov shook his head, then turned to her with a grin. "I suppose you have heard about the Council letting a couple of criminals off the hook." He said.

Lucy and Jellal both stiffened, restraining themselves from looking each each other.

Makarov let out a chuckle of amusement. "I thought so." He laughed. "I wouldn't mind knowing the trick you used, and get the Council to let _us_ off the hook." He stood up. "Even if you no longer have the Fairy tail guild mark, you will forever be a part of Fairy tail." He said, then smiled.

"Just a reminder." He said. "You must never use former contacts met through your being in the guild for personal gain. Though our paths may have diverged, you must continue to live out your life with all your might, you must never consider your own life to be something insignificant, and you must never forget about your friends for as long as you live."

He smiled and Lucy handed him her right hand. Makarov held his hand over Lucy's hand and Lucy felt a slight tingle. Makarov let go of her hand and Lucy looked at it. The pink guild mark that had become part of her was no longer there. Lucy took a deep breath and turned to stand next to Jellal.

"Don't tell the guild until they notice by themselves." Lucy said. "Once they do, please tell them that I had something very urgent that came up, and I had to leave the guild. Also that I'll miss them." Lucy took a deep breath. "And please make sure that they don't come after me. At least, not too soon."

She bowed her head to Makarov. "Thank you for everything, and I promise that I will come visit once in a while." She looked up and though her eyes were now full of tears, she smiled. "A Celestial mage never breaks her promise."

* * *

Lucy and Jellal managed to sneak out of the guild without the guild members noticing, which Lucy found very thankful. After all, if someone noticed Lucy's missing guild mark, it would spread faster than a forest fire and Lucy would be forced to answer their questions, which would most likely lead to her telling her guild mates everything.

Before they went back to Lucy's apartment, Lucy decided to shop for food. She also bought a copy of Sorcerer Magazine as proof that Cobra and Midnight were no longer criminals.

By the time Lucy and Jellal stumbled up the step to Lucy's apartment door, the sun had began to set. Lucy was fumbling with the key when the door was opened. Midnight held the door open and when he noticed that Lucy was struggling, he took a couple of bags from her.

"Cobra heard you outside the door." He said, answering the unasked question.

Lucy nodded. "Thanks." She said. She held the door open with her foot for Jellal, then locked it after she managed to free one of her hands. Cobra was seated on the couch, reading a book. He glanced up and smirked when Lucy and Jellal stumbled into the living room.

Lucy asked Jellal and Midnight to put all the food onto the table and began sorting the food they had bought into her currently empty fridge. Jellal excused himself to take a quick shower and change. When she was done, she pulled out the copy of Sorcerer Magazine she had bought and handed it to Cobra.

Cobra skimmed through it then froze. He urgently beckoned to Midnight who had just settled himself onto the floor. Midnight sighed, but stood up and made his way over to Cobra who shoved the magazine into his face.

Midnight glared at his friend and yanked the magazine from him. He sighed, then began reading the front page. His eye's widened a millimeter, looking slightly surprised.

He glanced at Lucy. "Really?" He asked.

Lucy smiled and nodded.

"Wow." Midnight murmured. He turned to Cobra, and though Lucy couldn't see his face, she knew he was smiling. Cobra glanced at his friend and smirked.

Cobra yawned, then glanced at Lucy. "Blondie." He said. Before Lucy could say anything, Cobra continued. "What's for dinner?"

Lucy sighed, hovering between smacking Cobra for calling her Blondie or just ignore him and go make dinner. She heard the sound of a door opening and Jellal joined them, looking clean and fresh from his recent shower.

Lucy decided to just ignore the Poison Dragon slayer and headed over to the kitchen to make something light to eat.

* * *

Lucy leaned back on her chair, her mind wondering to the last time she had relaxed and had eaten dinner at her apartment. Midnight was currently taking a shower. Jellal, Cobra and Lucy had already taken theirs and Lucy was settling down to sleep.

She glanced at the calendar on her desk. _Three weeks and two days until the full moon. _She noted absent-mindedly.

Jellal entered her bed room, offered her a small greeting, and settled down on the floor. Lucy wondered if she should offer the bed to him. After all, Jellal had been sleeping on the floor the whole time he had been in her apartment. Shouldn't his back be hurting?

_'Good night.'_

Lucy jumped slightly at her spirit's voice. She hadn't heard from Darque ever since they had left the guild. "Good night." Lucy said at the same moment Jellal yawned and muttered. "Night."

Darque's giggles echoed through their minds and Lucy was relived that the spirit seemed to be back to normal, back to the Darque before they had bumped into Lite.

Lucy frowned at the thought, but hearing Darque's continuous giggles, she managed to force away her worries.

The two mages glanced at each other and smiled. They seemed to be doing that very often these days.

* * *

**ANY NARUTO FANS HERE?**

**IF THERE ARE, WE HAVE STARTED A NEW NARUTO FANFIC, 'NEVER UNDERSTOOD'. **

**PLEASE CHECK IT OUT. IT WON'T BE UPDATED AS QUICKLY AS 'WHERE DARKNESS LED TO THE RIGHT PATH', BUT...YA**

* * *

**Don't forget to Review and tell us what you think~ XD**

**We put a poll up in order to decide Lite's candidates. First two to twenty wins.**

**Poll results:**

**Angel 14**

**Rufus 12**

******Rustyrose 12**

**Natsu 11**

**Yukino 4**

**OC 7**

**Please give us more ideas. We'll add it onto the list. Votes through PMs and Reviews are also accepted.**

**Ideas and suggestions are welcome.**


	22. Chapter 21: The answer

_**Chapter TWENTY ONE**_

The next day, Lucy woke to the faint sound of...something. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and glanced around. Something shiny caught her eye and she turned to her desk, where the Communication lacrima was glowing. Lucy got out from under her covers and made her way over to it.

_'Good morning.'_

Lucy nodded. "Good morning." She whispered, careful not to wake Jellal.

Just as she reached her desk, the lacrima swirled one more time before Rogue appeared. Lucy rubbed her eyes one more time.

"Hi Rogue." She greeted him with a smile.

Rogue offered her a small smile. "Hello, Lucy-san." He nodded. "Sorry if I have woken you."

Lucy shook her head. "It's fine." She sat down onto her seat and placed her arms onto her desk, resting her head on her hands. "So, is it okay for me to assume that your ready to give your answer?"

Rogue nodded. "I have discussed this with Sting, and we have agreed that we do want to accept your proposition." He said.

Lucy smiled. "That's great." She said.

_'Get them to come over to your apartment. We need to discuss guild plans and other things.'_

Lucy nodded to herself. "Rogue, can you please come over to my place with Sting and your exceeds? We need to discuss guild plans-"

"If this is about Saber tooth, you don't have to worry, as me and my partner have already quit." Rogue interrupted her.

Lucy was quite surprised, but quickly shook it of. "Oh, well, that makes things easier for us, then." She said. "Still, come over to our place." She sighed. "I think you've heard about the Council's sudden decision to let Jellal, Cobra and Midnight off the hook." She said.

Rogue nodded, looking quite amused.

"I've left Fairy tail as well," Lucy didn't want to say that she had quit. It didn't sound right. "And we are all guild-less. If you remember, Darque suggested we create our own guild. Now that the criminal problem is out of the way, we can continue along that plan."

Rogue nodded again. "Then, we'll meet you at your apartment, Lucy-san." He said. "We'll bring along only the things we need, until we have sorted out plans on where we're going to locate ourselves." He paused. "We'll eat breakfast on our way."

Lucy nodded. "Okay, we'll be waiting."

Rogue bowed his head and he cut the call.

Lucy stood up and stretched. She stumbled out of her chair and walked over to her closet, where she randomly picked out today's outfit. SHe entered her bathroom to quickly change, then headed over to Jellal's make-shift bed. She crouched and gently shook his shoulder in attempt to wake him up.

Jellal groaned and rolled over, pulling the blankets over his head. Lucy sighed, wondering if she should try to classical dump-cold-water-on-your-head trick, then decided against it as she would be the one to have to clean it up. Instead, she settled to shaking Jellal's shoulder harder.

After a few minutes of wrestling with Jellal's sheets, Lucy finally managed to drag them away from him. Jellal let out a gasp at the sudden loss of contact and he sat up.

Lucy sighed, then dropped the blanket onto his head.

Jellal ripped it of and glanced at her. "Morning." He slurred, sounding still half asleep.

"Morning." Lucy sighed. "Rogue just called us."

Jellal stiffened. "And, what did he say?"

Lucy grinned. "He and Sting are coming over later so that we can discuss future plans." She said.

Jellal sighed in relief, then stood up, stretching. He excused himself to change while Lucy headed for the living room to tell Cobra and Midnight the news.

* * *

Just around noon, there was a knock. Lucy stood up from where she had been seated on of the tables and moved to the door.

She opened it and stood aside. "Come in."

Rogue nodded his gratitude, then stepped into the apartment, his exceed, Frosch on his shoulder while Lector hovered over his head. His partner, Sting, followed glancing at Lucy, unsure of what to say.

Lucy led the way into the living room where Midnight was currently seated on the floor, sleeping while Cobra occupied the couch. Jellal looked up from where he had been sitting opposite Lucy on one of the other chairs.

He glanced at the two Dragon slayers, before nodding a greeting.

Lucy gently nudged Midnight to wake him up and Cobra sat up on his own accord, his gaze hovering on the newcomers.

Rogue was the first to speak. "I've introduced myself before." He said, then turned to his partner. "This is Sting, the White Dragon slayer." He pointed at the two cats in turn. "This is Frosch, and that's Lector."

Jellal nodded. "I'm Jellal Fernandez."

Cobra narrowed his eyes but nodded nonetheless. "Cobra, and that's Midnight." He pointed his finger at his friend, who had fallen asleep again.

"I'm Lucy Heartfillia." Lucy said. She held up one of her keys and Sting tensed, as if waiting for an attack.

Lucy waved the key. "Open, the Gate of the Devil, Darque!"

Mist seeped out of the key and Lucy wondered if it was just her, or if the mist looked way more creepy than usual.

Darque appeared, and landed gently onto the floor. She bowed towards Lucy and Jellal, then turned to face Rogue and Sting. "How much have you told him?" She asked.

Rogue shrug. "Everything."

Darque nodded. "I am Darque di Daemon." She said, then hesitantly held out her hand.

Sting glanced between his partner and the spirit. He reached out and just as hesitantly, grasped her hand. Once he had deemed that Darque ment no threat, he plastered his usual cocky smirk onto his face. "I'm the Great Sting Eucliffe." He said.

Darque smiled, let go of his hand, then leaped gracefully onto the table scattering some of Jellal's notes.

Before he could say anything, Darque kneeled onto the table and placed her hand in front of her, before lowering her head. "Thank you." She took a deep breath. "For everything you are sacrificing to help me."

Lucy smiled and gently placed a hand onto the spirit's shoulder. "How many times have you thanked us?"

Darque bit her lip in embarrassment. "Well..."

Darque jumped off the table and twirled around to face everybody. "For now, this is all of us, though I wouldn't mind a few more people, especially if we are going to create our own guild." She said. "However, we'll come to that later, as we can recruit new people anytime."

* * *

Lucy quickly told Sting and Rogue about their recent mission, where they had faced Lite.

Rogue had instantly noticed something. "Lite can control Kinetic energy, right?" He checked.

Lucy nodded.

"Doesn't being able to control Kinetic energy give the user the ability to control Elements?" Rogue asked.

This time, Darque answered. "Yes." She said. "But I don't control ordinary Elements. The Elements I control come from the darkest parts of hell. Any type of Element I touch, I can convert into black Elements. So even if Lite attacks us with fire, I can touch it and bring it under my command." She said.

Rogue mused over this. "So if Lite uses controls Elements to attack you, you can overtake his control over them?" Darque nodded.

Since the two exceeds looked tired, Lucy had let them rest on her bed. Once everyone had settled themselves around the living room, Darque folded her arms.

"First, we need to solve the base problem." Darque said.

"Base?" Jellal asked.

Darque nodded. "Staying together will cause lot's of suspicion, though staying as a group will offer all of us protection."

Sting scoffed. "I don't need protecting-"

Darque whipped around to face him. "You do not know Lite." She snarled. "I easily defeated Natsu Dragneel earlier on this week, and if he is one of the strongest mages you humans have to offer, I have to say, Lite is way out of your league."

* * *

**Don't forget to Review and tell us what you think~ XD**

**-Can you guys give us some ideas on Guild names?**

**-Also, should they enter the GMG? I know with all the Lite VS Darque thing going on, it might be hard but we think it might be interesting.**

**-And, should Fairy tail notice Lucy's absence and chase after her and find her with Jellal and co?**

* * *

_**ALSO, GIVE US SUGGESTIONS FOR DARQUE AND LITE's OTHER RECRUTEES.**_

**So far:**

**Darque:**

**Candidate:**

**-Lucy**

**-Jellal**

**Other:**

**-Cobra**

**-Midnight**

**-Rogue**

**-Sting**

**?**

**{XD}**

**Lite:**

**Candidates:  
**

**-Angel**

**?**

**Other:**

**?**

**We put a poll up in order to decide Lite's candidates.**

**ONE OF THE CANDIDATES HAVE BEEN DECIDED:**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**ANGEL!**

**Poll results:**

**Angel 26**

******Rustyrose 19**

**Rufus 18**

**Natsu 14**

**Yukino 5**

**OC 8**

**Please give us more ideas. We'll add it onto the list. Votes through PMs and Reviews are also accepted.**

**Ideas and suggestions are welcome.**

* * *

_**Please support our other stories:**_

_**Naruto: Never Understood:**_

**Sabaku no Gaara and his younger twin sister, Sakura, are well known as the 'Junchiruki' Demon twins. People fear them and no-one understands them. No-one tries to understand them. They have built their whole entire world around the other. Whey they transfer from Suna to Konoha Academy, will they finally let their walls down? Slightly AU, but ninja powers, missions and stuff exists.**

_**A Certain Magical Index: Always two sides to a story:**_

**When someone knocks on Misaka Mikoto's dorm door at night, it is someone she never expected it to be. Soon, she learn about a different side to Accelerator's personality. And when an enemy Academy city has never seen before appears, a group of very unlikely allies may have to join forces to defeat it.**


	23. Chapter 22: A moment of quiet

_**Poll is closed. Results are at the bottom.**_

_**Chapter TWENTY TWO**_

Sting stiffened. "You defeated Natsu-san?" He glanced around wildly, as if looking for some sort of proof.

Jellal nodded in confirmation, while Lucy smile proudly.

Darque narrowed her eyes. "Now, are you going to listen to me?"

When no one replied, she nodded in satisfaction. "Now, as I was saying, staying together will help us protect one another." She said. "When one of us holds the binding ceremony, the other can sense it. We'll hold ours after we have settled and I will tell you once Lite has chosen is candidates."

Lucy frowned. "Before, you said that we don't want too many recruits. Why's that? I mean, doesn't more people give us an advantage?"

Darque nodded. "Yes, but both of us can only recruit limited amount of people." She said. "Both of us can only have two candidates at the max. Then, each of us can only have the same amount of recruits the other has. We start of with five empty slots, excluding the candidates. Once both of us have filled in the five spots, we can decide whether or not we can recruit more. Five is the minimum."

She paused. "If one of us decides that five is enough, they can...'close' the recruitment. This way, the other cannot recruit anymore people." She looked around at the blank faces. "Uh, okay..."

"Say both Lite and I have five recruits." She started. "And I don't want to recruit anymore." She reached into her cloak and pulled out the scroll. "Then all I have to do is rip this. Then Lite's is automatically destroyed as well, and therefore, we can't recruit anymore people." She said. "But since we only have for so far, neither of us can destroy it." She stated. "As long as both scrolls are intact, we can recruit one person at a time. Then we have to wait for the other to recruit one, before we can recruit another."

Lucy managed to wrap her mind around the piece of information before anyone, and was the first to recover. "So you can tell when Lite performs the binding ceremony, or if he recruits someone?" She asked.

Darque nodded. "Yes." She said.

"Now that Cobra, Midnight and Jellal are no longer considered criminals, we'll have no problem creating a guild and presenting them as members." Darque said. She clapped her hands together in front of her and held them there. The spirit began to emit an eerie glow and mist began to surround her. A good ten seconds later, the light vanished to reveal Darque in her battle mode.

Lucy looked at her questioningly but Darque just nodded at her.

"I need to be in this form to perform any sort of magic. This is my biggest handicap, and transforming into my battle form without being summoned in it can take time." Darque explained. "However, once I manage to unlock my Cursed Darkness Magic, I can battle in any form."

Jellal tapped his chin. "Then why didn't you just ask one of us?" He asked.

Darque smiled. "I just wanted to see how long I took to transform." She said. "Let's say that I had already been summoned, but I am not in your view. Then you call me back into the spirit world." She said.

Lucy frowned. "Huh?"

Darque smiled apologetically. "In other words, you can only send me back to the spirit world when you can see me." She said. "Which means if you and I were in different places and you were attack, you cannot send me back, then call me until me see each other again." Darque stated. "Unless I unlock my true magic."

"Oh." Jellal said. "But that isn't a very big problem, is it?" He asked.

Darque shrug. "If Lite ambushed me while I was alone, I'd have to be able to defend myself. During the time I take to transform, I am vulnerable." She said. "So I need to try and unlock my Cursed Darkness magic." Sting opened his mouth. "Which I have no idea how to." Darque finished with a pointed look sent towards the White Dragon slayer, who closed his mouth.

"Hang on." Lucy said. When I sent you over to Jellal, you came back without me." She said.

Darque shrug. "That time, Jellal sent me back." She said. "I can travel freely through the gate, as long as you can see me or I can see you."

Jellal thought over this. "So when you went to...er...speak to the council..."

Darque nodded. "I came back here before i went back to the spirit world."

"That is also why you guys need to master the strongest type of magic I can offer you." She said.

Lucy smiled. "I already can already use Illusion magic." She said. Jellal nodded as a 'me too'.

Darque looked surprised, which soon melted into a grin. "Then I guess I can skip all the other types of magic and move to the strongest."

"What type of magic is it?" Lucy asked.

Darque smiled. "Black Hole magic." She said.

Rogue frowned thoughtfully. "Can't Gravity magic users create Black Holes?" He asked.

Darque nodded. "Yes, they can." Sting opened his mouth to object but Darque didn't give him the chance.

"However, the type of Black Hole magic I am going to teach you is way more powerful." She said. "You can use it as means of offence and defense during fights. You can also teleport from place to place as well as use it to store things."

Lucy felt excitement bubble inside her. If she could master it, she wouldn't have to depend solely on her spirits.

Darque transformed back into her normal form. "Now, our guild." She said. "Once we have sorted it out, we'll hold the binding ceremony."

* * *

Darque disappeared back into the spirit world and came back a few moment later, holding a piece of paper. She handed it Lucy who gave it a quick look-over.

"A Legal guild?" She asked. "Wouldn't it be easier for all of us if we were an Independent guild?"

Darque rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, yeah. I know, but the one requirement the Council gave me was that if we were to form a guild, we need it to be legal, as the Council said that they want to keep an eye on us." She said. "They already gave us permission, but said that if they think any of the former criminals are going back to their old ways, they wont hesitate to arrest them."

Lucy nodded. "I guess I understand."

Midnight, who had been so quiet to the point Lucy though he had been asleep, spoke up. "I never knew creating a guild was so...troublesome." He yawned.

Cobra nodded. "When Oración Seis was first formed, all we did was announce ourselves as a guild." He chuckled.

Midnight paused, as if a sudden thought had dawned him. "The Grand Magic games..." He trailed off.

Lucy glanced at him. "What about them?"

Midnight looked wide awake now. "If we're a legal guild, we can enter, right?"

Cobra's eye widened. "Yeah, I think we can." He said, then smirked.

"I've always wanted to enter them, once." Midnight muttered, then closed his eyes again.

Cobra chuckled, then shot a glare at Sting. "Says the Blonde idiot."

Lucy looked offended, until Cobra glanced at her. "I said blonde, not Blondie."

Sting looked startled. "What?" He asked.

Cobra smirked, then tapped his ear. "I can hear you." He said, then narrowed his eye. "I am not an idiot."

Sting's eyes widened. "Wha-?"

Rogue grasped his partner's shoulder. "Cobra can read people's thoughts." He said. "I told you that already."

Sing frowned. "Oh, yeah." He said, then whipped around to point at the Poison Dragon slayer. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"No one said you have to like it." Cobra said.

Midnight covered his ears. "You guys are so noisy." He complained. Rogue nodded in agreement.

Lucy finally stood up. "Guys." She said. "We need to fill in this-"

Sting interrupted her. "Not now Blondie. I need to teach the Idiot a lesson."

Cobra smirked. "Right back at you."

Lucy began to release a deadly aura. Jellal abruptly stood up. "I, uh, need to go to the bathroom." He said, then darted out of the room.

Lucy stormed up to the two arguing Dragon slayers. "Lucy..." Her eyes flashed. "KICK!"

Lucy's apartment was quiet for the rest of the day.

* * *

**Hello people! Here's the new chapter.**

**Sorry about the continuous boring chapters, but we promise, action will start soon. **

**-Can you guys give us some ideas on Guild names?**

**-Also, should they enter the GMG? I know with all the Lite VS Darque thing going on, it might be hard but we think it might be interesting.**

**-And, should Fairy tail notice Lucy's absence and chase after her and find her with Jellal and co?**

* * *

**We know Sting is pretty OOC at the moment, but we didn't know how to make him act, especially at all the new information. Let's just say his mind is..._malfunctioning_. :D**

_**Darque: Does Midnight seem OOC as well?**_

**Raven: I think you're making him a bit too cute.**

_**Darque: Cute?**_

**Raven: Yeah. Like, him covering his ears when Sting and Cobra were arguing and when he said he wanted to enter the GMG.**

_**Darque: Well, I think I like cute Midnight, but I'll try to fix it.**_

* * *

**Lite's candidates have been decided.**

**ANGEL AND RUSTYROSE!**

**Now, we need recruitees for both sides. Please leave us a review.**

**So far:**

**Darque:**

**Candidate:**

**-Lucy**

**-Jellal**

**Other:**

**-Cobra**

**-Midnight**

**-Rogue**

**-Sting**

**?**

**{XD}**

**Lite:**

**Candidates:  
**

**-Angel**

**-Rustyrose**

**Other:**

**?**

* * *

_**Please support our other stories:**_

_**Naruto: Never Understood:**_

**Sabaku no Gaara and his younger twin sister, Sakura, are well known as the 'Junchiruki' Demon twins. People fear them and no-one understands them. No-one tries to understand them. They have built their whole entire world around the other. Whey they transfer from Suna to Konoha Academy, will they finally let their walls down? Slightly AU, but ninja powers, missions and stuff exists.**

_**A Certain Magical Index: Always two sides to a story:**_

**When someone knocks on Misaka Mikoto's dorm door at night, it is someone she never expected it to be. Soon, she learn about a different side to Accelerator's personality. And when an enemy Academy city has never seen before appears, a group of very unlikely allies may have to join forces to defeat it.**


	24. Chapter 23: Sky Dragon slayer?

_**Chapter TWENTY THREE**_

A couple of days had passed since Lucy, Jellal and Darque had gathered their first four recruitees. They slowly but surely began bonding, and soon, playful blickering could be heard. Lucy felt completely at ease with former criminals and two mages form Fairy Tail's rival guild.

Lucy had asked Darque if she could suggest someone to be one of their recruits. She had raised Wendy's name and Darque had agreed. After all, everyone they had so far were most likely to charge into battle without thinking and they could use a healer.

During the next few days, Darque had began teaching Jellal and Lucy the concepts of Black Hole magic. It had come very naturally, to Darque's surprise and the Candidates delight.

In a weeks time, Lucy could control Black Holes as easily as she could summon spirits. So while Darque helped Jellal with it, Lucy decided to talk to a certain Sky Dragon slayer. Sting, who had gotten quite fond of Lucy, calling her 'Blondie' and ruffling her hair every time he saw her, which seemed weird considering the fact Lucy was supposed to be older, decided to tag along. After a sigh, Rogue followed.

Lucy was sure walking into the guild with the former Twin Dragons of Sabertooth would attract lots of attention, as well as start a brawl, but she decided to leave her keys behind. She wanted to test out her new magic, as well as prove to team Natsu that she could defend herself.

* * *

The moment Lucy stepped through the door, she was met in the face with a thrown table. Well, almost. After days of training without resting, reflex took over and Lucy quickly opened a Black Hole in front of her. The table was swallowed into the swirl of never ending black.

The rowdy guild suddenly got so quite, you could have heard a pin drop.

Finally, Gray spoke up. "What was...that?"

Lucy winced. Okay, she had wanted to show off her new magic, but she had hoped for at least sometime to think of an excuse.

Lucy didn't know if what happened next could be considered a good thing or a bad thing. Natsu leaped to his feet, sniffing the air. "I smell _Sabers_."

At once, everyone was on their feet. Lucy sighed, then waved her hand. At once. Sting and Rogue appeared behind her. "I thought I told you to wait outside." She muttered.

Rogue shrug, then jerked his thumb accusingly towards Sting. Sting simply smirked and placed his hand on Lucy's head. "Don't worry, Blondie." He said, ruffling her hair.

Lucy shook off his hand and cleared her throat. "I wasn't worried about you." She said

Natsu stepped up. "Luce, what are you doing with _them_?" He asked.

"I was worried about _that_." She said.

Sting raised his hand. "Hello, Natsu-san." He said.

Natsu punched his fists together. "If your here for a fight, I'll gladly-"

Lucy quickly intervened. "Nope. No fighting." She said. "I'm here because-"

Suddenly, Makarov appeared from his office. "Ah, hello Lucy." He said. He eyed Sting and Rogue, but didn't say anything.

Lucy waved in greeting. "Hello, ma-" She froze. She had left the guild, so saying Master would be weird, but calling him Makarov would give her leaving away.

Luckily, Makarov caught onto her thoughts. "Sting, Rogue." He said, greeting the two Dragon slayers. "What can I do for you?"

"We're just accompanying Blondie to pick up the Sk-" Lucy quickly elbowed his rib. Sting yelped. "What was that for?" He whined.

Lucy wanted to hit head head against the wall. Sting opening his mouth always led to a disaster. Even after they had drilled into his head that Fairy tail couldn't know about their plans to recruit Wendy.

Rogue sighed. "Just for the record, we are no longer part of Sabertooth."

"What?" Natsu asked. "Really?" Rogue sighed.

Lucy needed to talk to Wendy, who was sitting at one of the tables. Carla was nowhere to be seen. She quickly thought of something, then turned to Sting, who had recovered from her elbow jab.

"Sting, Rogue." She whispered under her breath, quietly so that not even Natsu could hear. Both Dragon slayers glanced at her from the corners of their eyes, telling her that they had heard, but didn't make any other indication that Lucy had said something.

"I need you guys to start a fight." She whispered. "I'll use the detraction to talk to Wendy."

She caught sight of the grin Sting sent her and she wondered if this was such a good idea.

"Throw Natsu at Erza. Aim for her cake." She added.

Sting's grin widened and he turned to Natsu and threw a mouthful of insults towards him. He grinned to let the guild know that it was just a friendly banter. He spoke so fast that Lucy had no idea what he said, but Natsu took the bait. The two Dragon slayers threw themselves at each other. Sting dodged the first attack and grabbed the Fire Dragon slayer by his scarf. He yanked him forwards, then threw him towards Erza.

The guild held it's breath as Natsu was launched into the air. He stayed there for a split-second before he came crashing down, right onto Erza's new plate of cake. Erza blinked, before she stood up, shaking. Natsu sat up from the ground, the froze, and slowly looked up, just in time to get a fist driven straight into his face. One by one, the guild was dragged into the brawl.

Lucy made her way over to Wendy. "Wendy." She called.

Wendy looked up at her name, then smiled. "Hello, Lucy-san."

Lucy smiled back. "Can I speak to you, it's really important."

Wendy glanced at her curiously, but nodded. Lucy looked at her gratefully, then beckoned to Rogue who had been standing ot the side of the brawl. He quickly made his way over to them. Lucy nodded at him and Rogue leaped into the fray. A few seconds later, he came out with Sting.

Sting smirked. "How was that?" He asked.

Lucy winked at him. "You were great." She raised her hand and a Black Hole appeared in front of her. "We'll return to where the others are." She turned to Wendy. "Don't worry, I'll bring you back after we're done."

Wendy nodded.

"Come on." Lucy stepped through the Back Hole, and the others followed. No one noticed their departure.

* * *

**New chapter~**

**We still need recruitee suggestions. For both sides, please.**

**Also,**

**-Can you guys give us some ideas on Guild names?**

**-Should they {Darque and co} enter the GMG? I know with all the Lite VS Darque thing going on, it might be hard but we think it might be interesting.**

**-And, should Fairy tail notice Lucy's absence and chase after her and find her with Jellal and co?**

_**Darque: By the way, I can't type numbers on my laptop keyboard, apart from 5 and 6. Does anyone know how to fix that?**_

* * *

**_Please support our other stories:_**

**_Naruto: Never Understood:_**

**Sabaku no Gaara and his younger twin sister, Sakura, are well known as the 'Junchiruki' Demon twins. People fear them and no-one understands them. No-one tries to understand them. They have built their whole entire world around the other. Whey they transfer from Suna to Konoha Academy, will they finally let their walls down? Slightly AU, but ninja powers, missions and stuff exists.**

**_A Certain Magical Index: Always two sides to a story:_**

**When someone knocks on Misaka Mikoto's dorm door at night, it is someone she never expected it to be. Soon, she learn about a different side to Accelerator's personality. And when an enemy Academy city has never seen before appears, a group of very unlikely allies may have to join forces to defeat it.**


	25. Chapter 24: Before a Spirit

**NEW POLL:**

**MORE INFO BELOW.**

_**Chapter TWENTY FOUR**_

Wendy chocked back a gasp of surprise when they stepped out of the swirl of black into Lucy's apartment. She was even more surprised when she saw Midnight sitting under the dining table, seemingly asleep. Jellal and Cobra looked up from where they had been sitting around said table, passing around pieces of paper.

Lucy gestured towards Wendy. "Guys, we brought her."

Jellal smiled. "Hello, Wendy." He said.

Wendy offered him a shy smile. "Hello, Jellal-san." She glanced around nervously, eyeing the former criminals. "Cobra-san." Cobra shot her a smirk.

She didn't know whether or not she should greet Midnight. He _was _asleep, right? On cue, Midnight opened his eyes.

"H-hello, Midnight-san." Midnight's eyes softened just a teeny _tiny _bit, and he gave her a small smile.

Lucy grinned, then gestured for Wend to sit on the couch. The others gathered around and Lucy summoned Darque.

Lucy took a deep breath, and absent mindedly noted that she took a deep breath every time she told someone Darque's story.

* * *

When Lucy finished the story, Wendy didn't say anything.

Finally, Wendy blinked, then glanced between the people in the room. "Oh." Was all she could say. "So you guys being let off the hook, Jellal coming back, and the quitting of the Twin Dragon slayers all had to do with this?" She asked.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah."

Wendy slowly nodded in understanding. "And, I was told this because..."

Lucy shot Jellal a glance, then turned back to the Sky Dragon slayer. "We would like you to join us." She said.

* * *

Wendy had asked for some time to think, which Lucy agreed to. She secretly opened a Black Hole at the corner of the guild and dropped Wendy off. Wendy promised that she'll reply in two days at the latest, as Lucy had told her that they had two weeks and three days until the full moon.

When Lucy stepped back into her living room, she collapsed face first onto the couch. "Gods." She whined.

Sting sat beside her, and reached out with his hand. Lucy quickly ducked out of the way, instinctively straightening her hair. "Don't mess up my hair." She said.

Sting smirked.

Darque stepped up to Sting and grabbed his hand when he reached out again. She leaned into him, then exploded into black smoke and mist. Sting yelped and jumped back a few feet. The mist linger for a few seconds reforming Darque's shape.

"Don't touch Lucy with your dirty hands." She snarled.

Sting opened his mouth, but Cobra interrupted him. He yawned. "Do you wanna know what the girl was thinking?"

"It's not nice to listen to people's thoughts." Sting said.

Cobra chuckled. "Say's the one that's dying to know the most."

Jellal sighed. Couldn't these two survive a _minute_ without arguing?

Sting growled, then promptly looked away.

"So, what was she thinking?" Midnight asked.

"Apparently, she's noticed that Lucy was missing her guild mark." Cobra stated. "And she was slowly linking everything together." He said. "She want's to join us, but she also want to ask for a white cats opinion..."

Sting blinked. "White cat?"

Rogue glanced at his friends. "She's a Dragon slayer."

Sting clapped. "Oh yeah. Exceed."

Lucy nodded. "Carla."

Cobra shrug. "Well, yeah."

Jellal leaned back on his chair. "So she wants to join." He said. Cobra nodded. "That's nice to hear."

* * *

The next day, everyone was eating a late breakfast when they head a knock. Darque, who had just appeared to greet everyone good morning went to the door. She came back a few seconds later with Wendy and Carla in tow.

Lucy blinked in surprise. "Hello Wendy. Hi Carla."

Wendy smiled. Carla eyed the former criminals suspiciously, but nodded in greeting.

"I have thought over your offer and I have talked to Carla over it." Wendy said. "I would like to join, as long as Carla can come with us."

Just that instant, Lector and Frosch came trotting out of Lucy's bedroom. They blinked, and stared at Carla. Lucy inwardly cheered at their perfect timing.

Lucy smiled. "She can come with us." She confirmed. "These are Lector and Frosch, Sting and Rogue's exceeds." She said. "They are coming with us as well."

Wendy grinned. "Then I would like to join as well." She said.

"Are you sure?" Lucy asked.

Wendy leaned her head to one side in question.

"This choice will force you to leave the guild. You will have to lie to your team mates and family, as telling them will only endanger them." Lucy said.

Wendy nodded firmly. "I've made up my mind." She replied.

Lucy smiled. "Then we'll be glad to have you. Welcome, Wendy, and thank you."

Wendy smiled.

The white cat spoke up. "I've heard your story from Wendy." She said. "I have to say, I've heard that story before."

Darque sat up from where she had been sitting on the floor, leaning against Midnight. Emo and Goth Lolita. Lucy inwardly smiled.

"Really?" Darque asked.

Carla nodded. "I don't know where or how, but I've heard it before."

Darque nodded and relaxed against Midnight again, who hissed in annoyance. Darque grinned and stuck her tongue out at him.

"I know of your past." Carla said.

For a second, time seemed like it had frozen, then Darque was on her feet. Her eyes were wide and her usually well hidden emotions were clearly visible.

Fear

Darque was _scared._

That instantly caught everyone's attention.

Lucy hesitantly spoke. "We do too. " She said. "The wish cycle's been going on for centuries and-"

Carla shook her head, interrupting her. "No, I mean the history from before Darque di Daemon became a Celestial Spirit."

* * *

**POLL:**

**We've put up a poll to decide the Guild name. Thank you to those of you how gave us ideas. We've gotten many suggestions, but we've picked out a few we liked the most. We also mashed a few of the names together, and a few were our ideas.**

**Erebus Soul**

**Grim Requiem**

**Valkyrie Feather**

**Valkyrie Requiem**

**Serpent Chaos**

**We still accept suggestions, and if we like it, we might add it onto the list.**

**Vote at our profile. We accept votes through PMs and reviews as well. ****We need the name decided for two chapters time, which is in six days.**

**{In case you guys haven't noticed, we've been updating once every THREE DAYS![Just so you know]}**

* * *

**Sorry if that was short, but we thought that was a good place to leave a cliffhanger.**

**Leave us a review and tell us what you think.**

**Oooooo, Darque was not always a spirit...**

**We still need recruitee suggestions. For both sides, please.**

**We have to go now, cuz we have to cheer for our country for the World cup tomorrow.**

**Raven: Go Japan~**

**_Darque: :D _**

**__****Darque: By the way, I can't type numbers on my laptop keyboard, apart from 5 and 6. Does anyone know how to fix that?**

* * *

**Please support our other stories:**

_**Naruto: Never Understood:**_

**Sabaku no Gaara and his younger twin sister, Sakura, are well known as the 'Jinchiruki' Demon twins. People fear them and no-one understands them. No-one tries to understand them. They have built their whole entire world around the other. Whey they transfer from Suna to Konoha Academy, will they finally let their walls down? Slightly AU, but ninja powers, missions and stuff exists.**

_**A Certain Magical Index: Always two sides to a story:**_

**When someone knocks on Misaka Mikoto's dorm door at night, it is someone she never expected it to be. Soon, she learn about a different side to Accelerator's personality. And when an enemy Academy city has never seen before appears, a group of very unlikely allies may have to join forces to defeat it.**


	26. Chapter 25: Massacre of the Night Tribe

_**Chapter TWENTY FIVE**_

The temperature in the room lowered by around ten degrees. Everyone in the room turned to stare at Carla. Lucy slowly turned her gaze from the exceed to the spirit, who had leaped to her feet.

"What?" Lucy whispered. "Is that...true?"

Darque's eyes widened in panic. "I'm so sorry." She gasped, then burst into smoke, returning to her key.

"Wait!" Lucy reached towards her, but all she managed to grasp was a puff of black smoke, before it slipped from her fingers.

Jellal stared at the spot Darque had disappeared. "Are Celestial Spirits people before they become Celestial Spirits?" He asked.

Lucy slowly shrug. "I've never heard of that before." She said.

Rogue crossed his arms. "Can you tell us what you mean?" He asked, glancing at Carla.

The white exceed now looked unsure, but nodded nonetheless. "I don't know much, but everything I do know, I think comes from a story I heard a very long time ago..." She trailed of with a shudder. "According to the story, Darque di Daemon and Lite di Angelo were both born to one of the five Tribes that supported the great kingdom of Purudentia, the land of Foresight." She said.

"Each of the five Tribes were said to have a special ability that supported the village, and made sure it functioned and stayed above the other villages in both technology and economy." Carla said. "The tribe Darque and Lite were said to have been born to was known as the Tribe of Night, which was the most mysterious out of all five. They kept to themselves, to the point no one had any idea to how many people this tribe actually housed. Not many of the people trusted this tribe, and to cut the story short, planned a massacre."

Wendy let out an audible gasp. Sting's eyes widened and even Rogue looked shocked, as shocked as he could look. Lucy and Jellal glanced at each other, their looks mirrored by the other. Cobra didn't have his usual smirk on his face and Midnight had one eye open, listening.

Finally, Midnight asked the question that everyone had been wondering about. "Then, what happened?"

Carla frowned. "The village had no idea to how many people were part of the Night Tribe. No one had ever seen anyone enter or leave the Tribe Manor for at least five years, so for all they knew, their best friends could be part of the Night tribe. But thinking logically, the rest of the villagers had the advantage of numbers." She said. "They stormed the manor, backed up by the three tribes and the king's arm, only to find that it was empty, and the only inhabitants turning out to be corpses."

"The reason the Tribe hadn't made a appearance for the last five years was because the whole tribe had already been wiped out." Carla said. "By two individuals that also wiped out the rest of the kingdom." She said. "That's all I remember."

Lucy, always having been the smart one, put the whole thing together. "By Darque and Lite." She said. It sounded more like a question. Lucy grabbed Darque's key, and muttered the summoning words.

The mist appeared, but seemed much slower in putting itself together. Finally Darque appeared, her eyes lifeless.

Everyone stared at the spirit for a while before Lucy put her hands defiantly onto her hips. "Now, I'm not going to question you, because I'm sure you had your reasons." She began. "I'm going to trust you, so it's your job to make sure we don't regret it." She said.

Darque glanced at her slowly. "What?" She whispered.

Sting shrug. "Well, if that's what Blondie wants to do, I'm not gonna complain." He said.

Rogue nodded, agreeing with his friend. Cobra glanced at Midnight, and nodded. Jellal smiled. Wendy and Carla glanced at each other, then turned back to face the spirit.

"B-but, I've _killed_." Darque said. "I've killed hundreds, maybe thousands of people for reasons I can no longer remember!" She shrieked the last few words out, her hands flying to her hair. "I don't remember how or why I'm a spirit, neither can I remember my life before the massacre. I don't remember my relationship with Lite or why we're trapped in a cycle of fight to the death." She said. "I don't know-"

Lucy held up her hand. "The Binding ceremony is to make one swear their loyalty, right?" She interrupted.

Darque slowly nodded.

"We're going to trust you, but in order for us to do that, we need you to trust us." Lucy said gently. "According to what you said, even if we perform the ceremony, Lite can't attack us until he has his own team sorted out." She said. "We'll hold the ceremony tomorrow, since we'll have a bit over two weeks until the full moon. Before that, we'll sort out the guild forms."

Darque nodded, gently rubbing her eyes. "The clearing where we first talked." She said. "We'll hold it there." She clenched her fists and firmly looked up and caught everyone's gaze. "No more lying." She announced. "Ask me anything, and I'll answer them to the best of my abilities." She said. "I, Darque di Daemon, promise you that. I'll include that into the list of things that you'll get for working with me."

Lucy glanced at the guild signup sheets left on the table. She grabbed them and began filling it in.

"What about the guild name?" Sting asked, reading over Lucy's shoulder.

Cobra snorted. "What kind of name is-" Sting pounced onto the Poison Dragon slayer, knocking him off the couch.

"Shut up!" Sting yelled, clamping his hand over Cobra's mouth. Lucy sighed, and left them to their fight as she turned back to the form.

She felt something brush her leg and looked down, just managing to hold back a scream. Midnight sat under the table, staring back up at her. "So, name?" He asked.

Lucy grinned. "I think I got it." She said.

* * *

**POLL:**

**We've put up a poll to decide the Guild name. Thank you to those of you how gave us ideas. We've gotten many suggestions, but we've picked out a few we liked the most. We also mashed a few of the names together, and a few were our ideas.**

**Erebus Soul**

**Grim Requiem**

**Valkyrie Feather**

**Valkyrie Requiem**

**Serpent Chaos**

**We still accept suggestions, and if we like it, we might add it onto the list.**

**Vote at our profile. We accept votes through PMs and reviews as well. ****We need the name decided for _NEXT CHPATER_**

* * *

**Leave us a review, and give us your opinion.**

**Darque is starting to sound like Aries. Anyways...**

**Okay, we're planning to make the story plot escalate during the next few chapters, starting around chapter 27, so yeah.**

**Finally, excitement~**

* * *

**Please support our other stories:**

**Naruto: Never Understood:**

**Sabaku no Gaara and his younger twin sister, Sakura, are well known as the 'Jinchiruki' Demon twins. People fear them and no-one understands them. No-one tries to understand them. They have built their whole entire world around the other. Whey they transfer from Suna to Konoha Academy, will they finally let their walls down? Slightly AU, but ninja powers, missions and stuff exists.**

_**A Certain Magical Index: Always two sides to a story:**_

**When someone knocks on Misaka Mikoto's dorm door at night, it is someone she never expected it to be. Soon, she learn about a different side to Accelerator's personality. And when an enemy Academy city has never seen before appears, a group of very unlikely allies may have to join forces to defeat it.**


	27. Chapter 26: Binding Ceremony

_**Chapter TWENTY SIX**_

A huge, complex looking magic circle had been drawn onto the soil ground.

Lucy and Jellal stood next to each other, at the center of the circle. Sting, Rogue, Cobra, Midnight and Wendy stood behind them in a neat row. The magic circle was big enough for all of them to stand on it.

The clearing they were in seemed like it was glowing in the moonlight. Darque stood in her battle form in front of her, her hands held out in front of her. Lying in front of her was her list of recruits scroll.

Darque muttered some words under her breath, then made a slashing motion with her right hand towards her left wrist, then held it out towards the scroll. Seven drops of blood dripped onto the scroll, and Darque withdrew her hand.

The scroll began to glow, and the magic circle followed. Mist seeped out of the scroll, and Lucy felt something on her wrist. She looked down and noticed the mist had formed a bangle like thing around her right wrist. It soon faded away, leaving behind a tattoo which looked like vines. On the top side of her wrist, there was Darque's blood red and ice blue version of a yin yang sign.

She glanced around and noted that everyone had the same vine tattoo on their right wrist, through only she and Jellal seemed to have the yin yang sign. She decided that it was because she and Jellal were Darque's candidates.

The magic circle stopped glowing, then the lines began to crack and turn into dust, before fading away.

Darque took a deep breath and picked up her scroll. She smiled, then handed it to Lucy, who took it and glanced at it.

The names of the people here now had a splotch of blood on in, and their names seemed to be glowing.

Darque took it back from her and carefully rolled it up, before slipping it back into her cloak. She held up her own wrist, where Lucy could see the same vine tattoo as her own. "Now we're bound together by the law of loyalty." She said.

They had left the exceeds behind at Lucy's apartment, where they were already asleep. Lucy had notified the Land Lady that she would be moving out. Though the Land Lady looked as strict as ever, she still nodded at Lucy's words and gave a teeny tiny smile, which was gone before Lucy could confirm it.

Darque said that she had already organized their guild building. On their form, Lucy had ticked the 'Only those who are invited can join' box instead of the 'Anyone is welcome' box. After all, if random people came to ask if they could join, Lucy was sure she didn't have to heart to say no.

"What now?" Midnight asked.

"The Grand Magical Games." Darque said. "We could use that event to introduce ourselves to the world." She said. "Besides, I am pretty sure that once Lite finds out that we've entered the games, he will join as well. The games would give us a perfect excuse on why we're leaping at each other's throats."

"Grand Magical Games are planned for next month." Midnight said.

Darque nodded. "I will tell you when Lite decides his candidates, so that we can look up information on them."

"Now what?" Sting asked, still looking at the vine tattoo on his wrist.

Darque grinned. "Now, we train." She said. "So that when the time comes, we can surprise your former guilds."

Sting smirked, looking please with the idea. Rogue sighed, as if he had some idea on what his blonde friend was thinking of.

For once, Cobra was not insulting Sting. Instead, he and Midnight were giving each other thoughtful glances.

Darque glanced at Lucy and Jellal. "Do both of you remember the map I asked you to study yesterday?" Both of the mages nodded. "Then, will you please open a Black Hole leading there?"

Lucy and Jellal glanced at each other. Recently, they had been practicing opening Black Holes together, as teleporting a lot of people at once could be magic consuming. They hesitantly grasped each other's hand, and held out the other in front of them.

A small, swirling black sphere appeared, and it began to glow. It expanded, until it was as tall as some of the trees surrounding the clearing.

Lucy and Jellal let go and stepped away from the Black Hole. Darque nodded in satisfaction. "Good, both of you mastered it."

Lucy nodded proudly while Jellal smiled. Darque led the way through the portal, and everyone followed.

They gasped when they stepped out of the swirling mass of black. The Black Hole faded and the mages barely noticed as they stared at the building in front of them.

Wendy's eyes were literally sparkling.

"Welcome to our guild base." Darque said proudly.

* * *

When Fairy Tail finally noticed the absence of Lucy and Wendy, it was already too late. The guild had asked Master why he had kept this piece of information to himself, only for him to reveal that it was at the wishes of Lucy and Wendy. It had been around three months and finally, the guild was starting to get back to its usual state.

The X792 Grand Magical Games were coming up and the whole guild was excited, ready to claim the title as 1st for the second year in a row.

Mira was reading the newest edition of the Sorcerer Magazine. Recently, a new guild had been a very hot topic. This guild had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, reports saying that they had defeated one of the troublesome Dark guilds that had been causing havoc recently.

Now the magazine was reporting on how this 'mystery guild' had announced its participation in the Grand Magical Games.

Mira didn't know why, but she had a feeling that this years Grand Magical Games would be like none other.

* * *

**Hi guys!**

**Finally, something interesting is starting.**

**By the way, we have noticed a VERY STUPID mistake in a couple of the previous chapters. **

**We mixed up some of the names, {Namely Rufus and Rustyrose} We have fixed the results, and we are sorry if anyone if displeased with the actual outcome, or is just simply confused. **

**So, Lites candidates are ANGEL and RUSTYROSE.**

**Now, we still want to include Rufus into the story. Do you guys think he should be a part of Darque's group or Lite's group. **

**By the way, who do think should be on the Fairy tail teams for the GMG? {There are going to be 2 teams}**

_**Darque: Hey, guess what? Apparently, Raven thought it would be a good idea to play a trick on his family by changing the time on their house clock so that it was one hour late, only to forget it himself and he arrived at his baseball practice one hour early, and had no idea what was going on until he remembered.**_

_**Now, he is grounded and is unable to post chapters for a week, which is why I am doing so. Plus, this gives me a chance to make fun of him while he's away. If you want, I could share on of his embarrassing stories with you!**_

_**XD**_

**That's it for now, see you guys next chapter. **

* * *

**Please support our other stories:**

_**Naruto: Never Understood:**_

**Sabaku no Gaara and his younger twin sister, Sakura, are well known as the 'Jinchiruki' Demon twins. People fear them and no-one understands them. No-one tries to understand them. They have built their whole entire world around the other. Whey they transfer from Suna to Konoha Academy, will they finally let their walls down? Slightly AU, but ninja powers, missions and stuff exists.**

_**A Certain Magical Index: Always two sides to a story:**_

**When someone knocks on Misaka Mikoto's dorm door at night, it is someone she never expected it to be. Soon, she learn about a different side to Accelerator's personality. And when an enemy Academy city has never seen before appears, a group of very unlikely allies may have to join forces to defeat it.**


	28. Chapter 27: X792 Grand Magic Games

_**Chapter TWENTY SEVEN**_

When Makarov appeared on the balcony, the whole guild became quiet. Even the usually rowdy team Natsu were quiet as they waited for Makarov to announce the team for the upcoming Grand Magical Games.

Makarov smiled down at the guild. "Now, as all of you should know, the X792 Grand Magic Games are coming up." He said. "Everyone has to try their best so that we can get the r-, I mean, we can show Saber tooth our power, once again!" The guild leaped to their feet, cheering.

When Makarov opened his mouth, the guild became quiet, waiting for the names.

"Since the other guilds saw us registering two teams as an 'desperate attempt' to win, we will only enter one team this year." Makarov said.

"Now, team Fairy tail will consist of Natsu Dragneel," Said Dragon slayer leaped to his feet, fist raised to the air.

"Gray Fullbuster," The Ice make mage got to his feet as well.

"Erza Scarlet," The equip mage looked up from where she had been eating a slice of cake, a smirk on her face.

"Laxus Dreyar" Laxus smirked from where he had been leaning over the balcony while the Raijinshu cheered.

"Gajeel Redfox." The Iron Dragon slayer grunted while Levy gave him a small round of applause.

"And Mira Jane Strauss as reserve." Mira smiled, putting down the glass cup she had been wiping.

Once again, the guild broke into cheers and this time, Makarov let them go on.

* * *

All the guilds participating the Grand Magic had assembled in Crocus a few days before the Games started.

Fairy tail were to stay in the same place as last year, Honey Bone. They had already been told that all the participating members had to be in their sleeping quarters by midnight, which most likely meant that the Preliminary Event were the same as last year, getting past the Sky Labyrinth. Fairy tail were determined to win this year again.

By Midnight, team Fairy tail were at the quarters, pumped up, or 'Fired up' in Natsu's case.

At exactly 12, a hologram appeared in the center of Crocus. Mato appeared, announcing the beginning to the Preliminary Event of the Grand Magic games. "All the teams will compete against each other in order to reach the tournament's ground, Domus Flau and the first 8 teams to get there will be participating in the Grand Magic Games."

Most of the guilds were not surprised by this.

The buildings began to move around, paths appearing to connect the sleeping quarters to the Labyrinth. "All members must reach the goal, or the whole team is disqualified." Mato said. His already creepy gin widened. "Now, good luck." He disappeared, announcing the official start of the Preliminary Event.

* * *

While all the guilds rushed into the Sky Labyrinth, one guild stayed where they were, not moving.

All five members were wearing black hooded cloaks. Two stood in front of the other three.

A few second later, a girl appeared in a puff of smoke. "Found it." She said. "I will download it." She disappeared in another puff of smoke.

The two at the front reached towards the other and grabbed each other's hands. They held up the other and a swirl of black appeared.

Wordlessly, they stepped through the whirl of black mass. The other three followed and all five were swallowed up.

* * *

Team Fairy tail managed to move to the goal much quicker than last time. This time, Mato didn't tell them their place, but congratulated them, telling them that they were one of the first eight.

Once the eighth team had reached the goal, Mato appeared. "Congratulations to the first eight teams." He said. "The tournament is divided into 5 days. 2 events are held each day, one battle and one surprise event. Each team will receive an amount of points based on their ranking position at the end of the surprise event. The first team will get 10 points, the second team will get 8 points and so on. The eighth team will get no points."

"For the battle, the winner will get 10 points while the looser gets none. If the battle ends in a draw, each team will receive 5 points." Mato said. "The whole arena is the battle field and the winner is decided when the opponent is decided unable to fight. The time limit is 30 minutes."

"The events will start tomorrow and the eight guilds will be announced in the inauguration, which is also held tomorrow." With that, Mato vanished to where ever he had come from.

* * *

Team Fairy tail returned to their sleeping quarters, congratulating the other. They were soon greeted by the rest of guild, who declared a party. Opposite Honey bone was a new sleeping quarter, which housed one of the guilds who were participating in the Grand Magic games.

Erza frowned as she looked out the window. Gray noticed this. "Erza, whats wrong?" He asked.

Erza shook her head. "It's nothing." She said, pointing at the opposite quarter. "Just that when we returned, there were no lights switched on, but now there are." She said. "But I have not seen anyone enter."

Lisanna approached them. "Why don't you go pay them a visit?" She suggested. "After all, you are going to be going up against one another."

Erza nodded in approval. "I will go find Natsu, Gajeel and Laxus."

A few minutes later, the members of team Fairy tail were standing outside the opposite quarters. A few faint sounds could be heard.

Erza took a deep breath and got ready to knock on the doors. She turned around. "Be polite, or you will have me to answer to." Natsu and Gray nodded nervously, and nodded.

Erza knocked on the door. The sounds coming from the inside stopped, and a singe pair of footsteps could be heard approaching the door.

It was opened and a head peeked out. Not a heartbeat later, it was slammed shut and yelling could be heard. The lights switched off and then nothing.

Erza growled and yanked the doors, which were unlocked, open. She slammed it open and was met with nothing. There was no one inside the sleeping lodge.

Natsu paused. "I can't hear anything." He said. "And all the scent is gone." He sniffed the air again. Gajeel nodded in confirmation.

Erza frowned and crossed her arms as she looked around. "We shall report this to master."

* * *

After team Fairy tail left Makarov's room, Makarov sighed and revealed the letter he had been reading, which he had hid a second before the team had stormed in.

He turned team Fairy tail's report around in his head, then re-read the letter. A smile made his way onto his face.

* * *

**Yay, new chapter! Tell us what you think.**

**Also, since Sting and Rogue are no longer in Sabertooth, do you think should fill their spot with an OC? {We're probably including Dobengal in the team.} {{Rufus is probably gonna be part of group Darque later on, but he is still part of Sabertooth.}} {{{ Yukino is not going to be there, as she is in Lite's team. However, this is only because her sister is there.}}} We are planning to fill group Lite's empty spots with OCs . What do you think?**

**Minerva is still a member of Sabertooth.**

**_Darque: __Raven's still absent...{Evil smirk}_  
**

**_So, there was this time when I went back to Japan during the summer. Raven and my families are very close and we went to the Universal Studio together. We were around five and we wanted to take a photo with the mascot thingy. After we took the photo, the mascots held out this jar of money and we didn't know that we had to put in money, not take the money._**

**_XD He was so cute back then..._**

* * *

**P****lease support our other stories:**

_**Naruto: Never Understood:**_

**Sabaku no Gaara and his younger twin sister, Sakura, are well known as the 'Junchiruki' Demon twins. People fear them and no-one understands them. No-one tries to understand them. They have built their whole entire world around the other. Whey they transfer from Suna to Konoha Academy, will they finally let their walls down? Slightly AU, but ninja powers, missions and stuff exists.**

_**A Certain Magical Index: Always two sides to a story:**_

**When someone knocks on Misaka Mikoto's dorm door at night, it is someone she never expected it to be. Soon, she learn about a different side to Accelerator's personality. And when an enemy Academy city has never seen before appears, a group of very unlikely allies may have to join forces to defeat it.**


End file.
